The Nature of God — part 2

Yesterday I started a blog post series entitled The Nature of God.  In it I shared about a Bible study I attend that is doing a curriculum by a well-known Bible study teacher on the book of Romans.  We are in Romans 9.  I don’t care for the curriculum because it doesn’t come from a grace-based, finished work of the Cross teaching.

Our most recent lesson was on the nature of God and I won’t go back into it today…. you can click the link above and read the blog from yesterday if you want.  One of the attributes or nature of God that was listed was “Just.”  I don’t disagree that God is just…. He absolutely is.  I didn’t care for the definition that was given to describe God’s justness. It said:

  • Just – God rewards righteousness and punishes sin proportionate to His love of the former and His hatred of the latter (Psalm 89:14; Numbers 14:18, 23:19; Romans 9:14)

Let’s look at the verses that are used to prove this Bible teacher’s lesson on the nature of God being “just.”

  • Psalm 89:14 (KJV) – Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.

In the Hebrew it says that Justice and Judgement are the dwelling place of His throne. Covenant Loyalty and truth shall go before your face. 

The foundation of His throne is Justice and Righteousness but when He turns His face toward us….. what flows from that throne…. that beautiful throne of grace…. is mercy and truth.  Or as it actually says in the Hebrew, covenant loyalty (chesed) and truth.  Psalm 85 also talks of covenant loyalty (mercy) and truth together.  God’s covenant loyalty and truth, of course, are really met together only in Jesus Christ.

John 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ

To be just, God had to punish sin (Ezekiel 18:4 and 20). But His mercy didn’t want to give us justice (James 2:13). This problem was solved in Jesus. God the Father laid our punishment on Jesus (Isaiah 53:6), and now through Jesus, we can receive God’s mercy (Ephesians 2:4-6). Oh happy day!!!  Mercy triumphed over judgement.  Therefore, mercy and truth have come together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Thank You, Jesus!  This is a miracle that could only occur because Jesus took all of God’s wrath for our sins (Isaiah 53:6 and John 12:32) into His own body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24).

Justice and judgment are seldom combined with mercy and truth. Since all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), all of us deserve death (Romans 6:23), not mercy and truth. But because Jesus paid for all our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21 and 1 Peter 2:24), mercy and truth are now offered to us in Jesus (Psalms 85:10).

Now what about Numbers 14:18

  • Numbers 14:18 The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.

I have a couple of issues with this verse in regards to the New Covenant.  First of

First of all it says He by no means clears the guilty.  That was under the Old Covenant.  Under the New Covenant, our guilt has been canceled.  The Law produced guilt.  Jesus took the Law as a document and nailed it to His cross, in effect writing across the bill “Paid in Full.” The New Testament believer is no longer under the Law ( 1 Corinthians 9:21, 1 Corinthians 10:23, Romans 3:19).

  • Colossians 2:14 – Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross;
  • Romans 3:19-20 — Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. (20) Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

I also have an issue with this verse saying God will visit the iniquity of the father’s upon the children Ezekiel 18:3 and Jeremiah 31:30 both say that everyone shall die for his own iniquity.  This is speaking of the New Covenant….. Jeremiah 31:31-34 says Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: (32) Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: (33) But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. (34)And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. 

Under the New Covenant, the sins of the fathers are not passed down generation to generation.

As for Numbers 23:19 I’m not sure why this one is included to prove that God hates and punishes sin and rewards and loves righteousness.  This verse is talking about Balaam being powerless to overturn God’s blessings.

The last verse given is Romans 9:14.

  • Romans 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

The verse before it says Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated.  Jacob was called to a higher position than his brother, Esau, before they were born, but that does not display any rejection of Esau on God’s part.

I’m not sure what this verse has to do with God punishing sin and rewarding righteousness.  If anything it disproves it.  He chose Jacob and Esau before they had done any good or evil, to illustrate that election was not based on performance but choice.

Of course I believe God is just.  Sin had to be dealt with.  The price for sin, all sin, has been paid!  God dealt with sin once and for all in Christ. He is now focused entirely on righteousness. Jesus did not just take our sin; He became the embodiment of it, so that we could become the embodiment of righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Some scriptures about God being just that should encourage you…..

  • He is merciful and remembers our sins no more
    • Hebrews 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
      • the word for merciful is hileos which means appeasing divine wrath; It means propitious, describing God’s covenant-mercy which rescues the believer by His atonement (bringing divine satisfaction).
  • Jesus became the propitiation for the WHOLE WORLD’S sins in order to satisfy the debt the Law had placed us under
    • 1 John 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 
      • propitiation is hilasmos in Greek meaning to appease wrath; an offering to appease (satisfy) an angry, offended party.
  • Jesus offered Himself for our sins ONCE for ALL
    • Hebrews 7:26-27 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; (27) Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.
  • Jesus came to take away the sins of the world
    • John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
  • We have been sanctified and perfected by Jesus’ sacrifice
    • Hebrews 10:11-14  By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (11) And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:  (12) But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; (13) From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. (14) For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
  • Jesus took our sins so that we could have His righteousness
    • 1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
  • God reconciled the world to Himself — making us friends instead of enemies
    • 2 Cor 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

      • reconcile is katallaso in Greek meaning to change from enmity to friendship, to reconcile“
  • Jesus took our chastisement for our sin, giving us instead healing
    • Isaiah 53:5  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.
  • God in His kindness declared us righteous and freed us from the penalty of sin
    • Romans 3:23-24 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. (24) Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 
  • Christ died for us… justifying us and saving us from the wrath that the Law brought
    • Romans 5:8-11 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (9) Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. (10) For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. (11) And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
  • Grace abounded to us through the righteous obedience of Jesus
    • Romans 5:18-21 So then as through one transgression there resulted in condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted in justification of life to all men. (19) For as through the one man’s disobedience, the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. (20) The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, (21) so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

There are so many more verses that we could list.  I encourage you to study it for yourself.  Instead of finding Old Covenant Scriptures to “prove” that God hates and punishes sin look for New Covenant Scriptures that will show you what Jesus did for you.

Romans 3:26 shows us the nature of God being Just…… This was also to demonstrate his righteousness in the present time so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness.  

His righteousness and His justness are demonstrated in that all men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (v.23) and yet God with undeserved kindness declared us righteous through Christ when He freed us from the penalty of sin (v. 24) because Jesus became the sacrifice for sin, shedding His blood for us.

He is a very just God… who has defeated sin and its power in our lives, completely forgiven us and has declared us righteous.  IN CHRIST His justness is clearly seen.

Next blog post is part 3 and talking about wrathful…..

~ Robin

The nature of God

 

I love Bible study!!  I love teaching Bible study, and I also love attending a Bible study that is taught by someone else.  I just enjoy studying the Word and growing in my knowledge of Christ.  So, I joined a Bible study at my church a few months ago, and we’re studying the book of Romans.  Romans is one of my favorite books to study, but this class has been such a disappointment.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate all of the women in the group and love fellowshipping every week.  I also LOVE our church that we go to when we are up here in Northern California… the Pastor is awesome, and I learn so much from him.  It’s a Rhema based church and so there is a tremendous amount of teaching on faith and specifically who we are in Christ.  Which I absolutely love!

This Bible study, however, is using a curriculum from a well-known Bible teacher and her teaching is not something I enjoy.  It doesn’t look at the Old Testament through the lens of the finished work of the Cross.  So….. suffice it to say, I’m not enjoying the class.  Today’s class was on Romans 9, and our lesson was on the nature of God.  We were learning what His attributes are… both natural and moral.  According to this lesson, natural attributes are describing what God IS, and moral attributes are describing HOW God deals with mankind.  She is not the only one who teaches this… google God’s attributes/nature, and you’ll find similar lists online through many sources.

I really had a difficult time with this lesson because it gives us an incomplete picture of who God is since some of these attributes are rooted in the Old Testament and don’t take into account what Jesus did through the Cross and the Resurrection.  Since the women in the class, except for myself and 2 other ladies, believed that this list thoroughly describes God’s nature, I thought I would share on my blog a few of the attributes that I feel are an incomplete picture of God.

The list of attributes were as follows:

Natural Attributes:

  • Omniscient
  • Omnipotent
  • Omnipresent
  • Eternal
  • Immutable
  • Incomprehensible – God, including His nature and acts, is beyond the comprehension of any creature.  Man understands only what God chooses to reveal about Himself, His purposes, and His ways (Job 11:7 and Romans 11:33)
  • Self-existent
  • Self-sufficient
  • Infinite
  • Transcendent
  • Sovereign

Moral Attributes:

  • Holy
  • Gracious
  • Righteous
  • Just – God rewards and punishes sin proportionate to His love of the former and His hatred of the latter (Psalm 89:14; Numbers 14:18, 23:19; Romans 9:14)
  • Merciful
  • Slow to anger
  • Wise
  • Loving 
  • Good
  • Wrathful – God hates all that is unrighteous, and He punishes all unrighteousness.  Whatever is inconsistent with His holy standard must ultimately be atoned for or consumed. (Romans 1:18; John 3:36; 2 Chron 19:2; Col 3:5-6; Rev 15:7)
  • Truthful
  • Faithful
  • Jealous – God does not share His glory with another (Isaiah 48:11; Exodus 34:14; Isaiah 42:8)

Reminder this is not MY list of God’s attributes/nature…. it is from a Bible study I’m attending.  

I highlighted bold the 6 that I feel are incomplete pictures of who God is.  Not that they’re necessarily wrong…. God did manifest those attributes under the Old Covenant — they are just INCOMPLETE and don’t show the reality of the finished work of the Cross.

LOVING and TRUTHFUL

I highlighted LOVING and TRUTHFUL only because I don’t feel they are moral attributes only — based on her teaching that moral attributes are HOW God deals with mankind and natural attributes being who God IS.  He is not just loving and truthful to mankind.  HE IS LOVE, and HE IS TRUTH.  Because He is those things… because His nature is love and His nature is Truth, everything He does is loving and truthful.  But He is not Love because He’s loving nor is loving an adjective to describe Him.  LOVE is His very essence. The same goes for TRUTH (Jn 14:6; Jn 16:13;).

INCOMPREHENSIBLE

To say God is incomprehensible is to give an incomplete picture of who God is.  He is not beyond our comprehension.  He is definitely infinitely limitless, and we will forever be learning of who He is and growing in our knowledge of Him.  He was definitely incomprehensible to the unbelieving Israelites.  Romans 11:33 says He is incomprehensible because of their rejection of the Messiah due to their unbelief.  To Job and his friends, the Lord is incomprehensible (Job 11:7).  However, the story of Job is before the finished work of the Cross.

While I do not disagree that He is incomprehensible to men at times… definitely in the Old Testament and in the New Testament to the unbelieving (because the natural mind cannot understand God)…. it still is not a complete picture of who He is.  Just leaving it at incomprehensible does nothing for my faith or help me grow in grace.  We also have a Knowability of God thanks to Jesus.

Jesus came and revealed to us who God is… what His nature looks like.  Men had a wrong, distorted perspective of God’s nature and Jesus set it straight.  Let’s take a look at Hebrews 1:1-3 and John 17:26 in some different translations.

  • Hebrews 1:1-3 says “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, (2) Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;  (3) Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person.”  
  • Hebrews 1:3 in the Message Bible:  This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God’s nature. He holds everything together by what he says—powerful words!
  • Hebrews 1:3a in the Mirror Bible: Jesus is the radiant and flawless expression of the person of God. He makes the glorious intent of God visible and mirrors the character and every attribute of God in human form. 
  • John 17:26 says “and I have made Your name known to them and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” 
  • Verse 26 in the Amplified says “I have made Your Name known to them and revealed Your character and Your very Self, and I will continue to make [You] known, that the love which You have bestowed upon Me may be in them [felt in their hearts] and that I [Myself] may be in them.” 
  • Verse 26 in the Message Bible says I have made Your very being known to them—
    Who you are and what you do— And continue to make it known, So that your love for me might be in them exactly as I am in them.
  • John 17:26 in the Mirror Bible: And I have made the essence of Your being known to them so that they may know You by name, and I will also give them understanding to know that the same love with which You have loved Me is in them even as I am in them!

So a complete picture of God’s nature would include what we now have available through the Cross.  Jesus FULLY revealed His nature to us… He is no longer incomprehensible to us.  Nothing was hidden from us about God.  So what Scriptures do we have that show us the Knowability of God?

  • We can have a full and personal knowledge of Him
    • 2 Peter 1:3:  His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness
      • Amplified says through the FULL, PERSONAL knowledge of Him
  • We have been given understanding to know Him
    • Jer 9:24: but let the one who boasts boast about this:  that they have the understanding to know me,
      • Message Bible says  If you brag, brag of this and this only: That you understand and know me.  I’m God, and I act in loyal love.
      • Amplified says  But let him who glories glory in this: that he understands and knows Me [personally and practically, directly discerning and recognizing My character]
  • Eternal life is being able to know or comprehend God and His Son Jesus
    • John 17:3:  Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
      • Know is ginosko in Greek — to take in knowledge; to comprehend
      • Mirror Bible says: This life of the ages, invites them to engage in the inexhaustible adventure of knowing you, the only true God and Jesus as the Christ whom you have commissioned!
      • Amplified says: And this is eternal life: [it means] to know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) You, the only true and real God, and [likewise] to know Him, Jesus [as the] Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have sent.
  • God has promised that ALL shall know Him
    • Heb 8:11:  And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
  • Because we love and are born of God we have the ability to know God clearly
    • 1 Jn 4:7:  Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth (ginosko) God.
      • Amplified says:  Beloved, let us love one another, for love is (springs) from God; and he who loves [his fellowmen] is begotten (born) of God and is coming [progressively] to know and understand God [to perceive and recognize and get a better and clearer knowledge of Him].
  • 1 Cor 2:9-10:  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit
    • Verse 10 in the Mirror Bible says: These profound mysteries of God’s eternal resolve are now thoroughly unveiled to us by his Spirit; nothing is hidden from him; he explores the innermost thoughts of God.
  • We have the mind of Christ and so we know what Christ knows
    • 1 Cor 2:16:  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
      • Message Bible says Isaiah’s question, “Is there anyone around who knows God’s Spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing?” has been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ’s Spirit.
  • We know ALL things
    • 1 John 2:20: But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.

Why would I want to study the Incomprehensibility of God when the New Covenant promises me that I can FULLY, INTIMATELY, PERSONALLY, COMPLETELY, know Him. This is worth exploring in greater depth. I did not do an exhaustive study of the Knowability of God.  Study it for yourself.  Don’t just “parrot” what a Bible teacher says…. even this Bible teacher 😏  

In the next blog, we’ll look at the nature of God being Just.

~ Robin

Wise home builders — Abigail

A couple of weeks ago I began a series of posts called Wonder Woman and chose different women throughout the Bible to highlight as wise home builders.  It’s been a busy couple of weeks and this is the first moment I’ve had to resume the teaching.  Today’s post is on Abigail in 1 Samuel 25.

Abigail has always been one of my favorite women of the Old Testament.  It’s hard to understand how a gracious, generous, loving woman could marry a man who’s character matches his name…. fool.  Maybe it was an arranged marriage… it seems unlikely that he was ever a catch that would’ve caught her eye!

1 Sam 25:3 says she was married to Nabal (meaning fool).  Psalm 14:1 talks about a fool.  The Complete Jewish Bible translation says:  Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God”, they deal corruptly, their deeds are vile, not one does what is right, an evil doer)  This pretty much summed up Nabal.  According to the Midrash (collection of explanatory works on the first five books of the Bible), he believed his lineage entitled him and not David to succeed Saul as King.  What does 1 Sam 25 tell us about Nabal and his wife Abigail?  It says he is very wealthy, he has 3 thousand sheep and 1 thousand goats.  He was hard hearted, oppressive, and evil in his deeds.  It also tells us he is a Calebite.  He and David are from the same tribe of Judah.  Of Abigail, it says she is beautiful and a woman of good understanding.  She definitely is a polar opposite of her husband!

In 1 Sam 25:4-8 we see David sending his men to appeal to Nabal for generosity towards them.   They greet Nabal in David’s name and pronounce a blessing upon him and his household. They call Nabal’s attention to the fact that it is shearing time, reminding him that while his men were in Carmel they protected them and his sheep.  They encourage Nabal to ask his servants to verify the truth of these words.  They have politely asked Nabal for a gift, waiting patiently and expectantly for his response.

Nabal’s response:  “Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be? “ (1 Sam 25:11).  

David’s appeal for food was not an unreasonable request.  This was during a sheep shearing feast (1 Sam 25:8) and it was known as a time of abundance, a time of sharing, and public celebration.  At such times the Law of Moses instructed the Israelites to be generous with those who were not so fortunate.  And since David’s men had contributed to Nabal’s well-being and wealth, David’s request is even more reasonable.  But Nabal refused.

At first, it looks like he doesn’t know who David is, asking “who is David?”  But obviously, he does as he refers to him as Jesse’s son.  It also appears that he knows of the tension between David and Saul.  Most likely he also knew of David’s fame as a giant killer and a war hero.  But he refers to him as a beggar and a runaway slave.  He had just insulted the region’s most powerful man. So the men return to David and report back to him Nabal’s response.  David tells his men to grab their swords and he and 400 of his men go after Nabal.

Meanwhile, Abigail (who had been out) hears what her husband did and sets out to repair the situation.  She quickly takes a gift of abundance to David (200 loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already prepared, six quarts of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins and 200 fig cakes.)  She then asks him to blame her since she was not at home rather than blaming her husband since his inhospitable nature is part of his poor character.

Abigail was a Proverbs 31 woman…… she extends her hands to those in need, she speaks with wisdom, watches over the affairs of her household and definitely feared the Lord.  

  • She had good discernment.   Verse 3 describes her as beautiful and having good understanding or discernment. In verse 17 the servants make her aware of the situation, confident that she will “know and see” what to do.  This probably wasn’t the first time she had to smooth over things caused by her husband’s foolishness.  In verse 33 David praises her for her judgment and perception in the situation.  It was her good discernment that saved the lives of her household!
  • She was courageous.  She set off on her donkey to meet with David.  She boldly approached David and 400 men with swords who were coming to her home to kill everyone… herself included!  She stepped into a potential battle with a man who was known as a warrior!  She didn’t think of herself but rather risked her life in order to plead for the lives of her household.
  • She spoke well.  Her words were full of grace (Colossians 4:6).  Just like the Proverbs 31 woman, she spoke with wisdom and the law of grace… the law of chesed (covenant loyalty) was on her tongue.  She spoke to David as no other woman ever had.  She prophesied blessing and destiny over him.  Reminding him of God’s care over his life and that he didn’t need to shed needless bloodshed and vengeance.  She spoke well of God and well of David.  She spoke the Father’s heart and it pierced David’s heart causing him to change his mind.
  • She walked in humility.  She humbled herself before David bowing down before him and apologizing for anything she had done to offend David.  She took responsibility for her husband’s actions and asked that the blame falls on her.
  • She was generous.  She didn’t just provide for David’s need…. she abundantly provided food for them.  And she did it quickly… she didn’t hesitate.
  • She had the heart of a servant.  In verse 23 when she saw David, she bowed low before him and fell at his feet.  At the end of the story when David’s men at his request came to take her back to him as his wife, she again bowed low to the ground.  Calling herself a servant… happy to marry David… willing to be a slave… and willing to wash the feet of the servants of her lord.

Abigail was sensitive to the heartbeat of God…. aligning herself with His plans for David.  She saw David not as a runaway rebel (as her husband had) but rather as the anointed King of Israel.  She knew it was only a matter of time until God’s promises over David’s life were fulfilled.

 

Wise home builders — Jael

Definitely one of my absolute favorite women in the Bible!  Though the more I’m learning to see them through Abba’s eyes, the more they’re all becoming my favorites.  But Jael is still one of those top 5 women that I love in the Bible.  Truly, this woman was an extremely wise home builder.

What do we know about Jael from Scripture?  Her name Jael means mountain goat.  Mountain goats were swift, sure footed, and dwelled upon high cliffs.  She was the wife of Heber, the Kenite.  The Kenites traveled with the Israelites and are related to them through Moses they were descendants of Hobab who was Moses’ brother in law.

Judges 4:11 says that Heber severed himself from the other Kenites.  And he pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanaim.  Zaanaim means sleepwalking.  It does seem Heber was sleepwalking through life…. not awake to the plans and heartbeat of God.  Zaanaim is near Kadesh and yet at the same time not far from Hazor where Jabin the cruel Canaanite King lives.  Heber distanced himself from the covenant people to live on the border of Canaanite (enemy) territory.

Verse 17 tells us that Sisera, the commander of the Canaanite army, ran to Jael’s tent because there was peace between Jabin and Heber.  He was a fence -sitter that played both sides between Israel and Israel’s enemy King Jabin.  He wanted to make sure he was allied with both in order to save himself.  Her husband had never taken a position….. but she did!  She was allied only with God.

It was by her hand that King Sisera met his demise.  She was a righteous warrior of her home and for the people of Israel.  When the enemy of Israel came to find refuge in her tent because of her husband’s alliance with King Jabin, she hammered a tent peg through his head!

She took a bold stand against the enemy

She wasn’t neutral when it came to her enemy and the future of her people.  This hospitable, house-wife, took a stake and nailed her enemy in the head. She didn’t wait for consensus. She didn’t listen to excuses or diplomacy. She refused to let fear make her choice.

She seized an opportunity!  He fled to her tent and she let him come in to sleep and while he was sleeping she killed him.  She was decisive and courageous and helped God’s people at a critical moment in history.  She was an instrument of deliverance and victory for her community.

Deborah made a song about her, calling her the most blessed of women!

What about you?  You must take a nail to neutrality! If a battle shows up in your home, stake it with the Word.  Let the Word make your decisions for you and refuse to compromise.  Be bold and courageous against the enemy for your family, your neighborhood, your city…. your nation!  

Her choice to take the correct position not only saved her family, it also saved her nation!

Wise home builders — Deborah

This has been a fun series and we’re only just getting started.  So far we’ve looked at God’s purpose for women (Wonder Woman) and 3 wise home builders… Eve, Sarah, and Rebecca.  Now let’s look at Deborah.   This post will probably be a bit long.. because there is just so much about her! This woman broke traditional, male female role barriers.  What an inspiration for us as women….

This woman, called by God, broke traditional male female role barriers.  What an inspiration for us as women…. that we can be all that God has called us to be and our being a woman is a strength and an asset.  God didn’t use Deborah because He couldn’t find a man who would fill the position!

He chose Deborah to lead Israel because she was the person He anointed and appointed for the position!  Deborah was in a class of her own; her leadership role was unprecedented and unparalleled! She was a woman who led a nation to victory against all odds.  She was the 4th judge out of a total of 15… and the only woman who judged.

She was a born leader.  She was an intercessor, a judge, and a prophetess.  She was a deliverer and a military strategist! She was also a mother to Israel.  She possessed wisdom, strength, and compassion.  While she was judge, the land had peace for forty years.  She held the highest executive office in the land!  She led a nation to victory against all odds!!

I love Deborah!  I love the inspiration she gives us as wives and mothers.  Especially as mothers.  My ceiling is my children’s floor… so I am constantly raising that ceiling.  Breaking boundaries.  Pushing limits.  And showing my kids… especially my daughters…. that you can continue to go higher and that there isn’t anything you can’t do with God.  I’m a wife, a mom, a homeschool teacher, a business owner with my husband, I also run a second business with my mom and a couple of friends, I teach Bible study, and I write.  I want my ceiling to be as high as it can be so that their jumping off point is from a great height.  I want them to follow me as I follow Christ and go higher than I ever will!

Proverbs 31:28 Her children arise and call her blessed.  Each line of Proverbs 31 begins with a Hebrew letter from the aleph bet (alphabet).  Verse 28 is the letter “kuf.”  Kuf is a picture of the back of a man’s head.  The idea is following after or behind.  Her children arise.  Arise is “kum” in Hebrew which means to rise up, to go higher spiritually.  And they bless her.  Bless is “ashar” which is not the typical word for bless but rather means guide, advance, lead.  Put it all together and it shows us that her children are following after her lead… after her advances…. she is guiding them and they are going higher spiritually because of it!  This is what a wise home builder looks like.

Although there is no evidence that Deborah had children, she was a mother of Israel.  She led her “children” to go higher spiritually.  Deborah broke outside of her culture, but she wasn’t in rebellion.  She wasn’t a feminist,  she was in obedience to her God.   As a result she was used radically to set her people free, and the people loved her.  Her life is a wonderful story of faith in God.

She spoke life and released what God was saying NOW!

Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. ~ Judges 4:4

This is our first introduction to Deborah….. she is a prophet, she is Lappidoth’s wife, and she is leading Israel.  The first description we have is her name.  Names often have profound prophetic meanings.  Names reveal the character of the person, unusual circumstances at birth, or prophetic destiny.  Names are so important that at times God changed the person’s name to reflect what He said of them.

Deborah’name means bee (devorah).  Bee comes from a word that means “word” (davar)  and can also be translated thing or matter.  The original picture painted by this word to the Hebrews is the arrangement of things to create order. The fact that God said she was a prophetess tells us that she was saying what she heard from Heaven restoring or arranging order in Israel.  She was one who would set things in order and release honey….. a time of plenty, a time of peace in the land designed to flow with milk and honey!

Deborah operated in a heavenly dimension of a spirit of wisdom and revelation. She spoke life and released what God was saying to Israel right now thereby restoring order in the land.  And the result was 40 years of peace for Israel.  40 years represents a generation….. like David would one day do, she served her generation well.

But that’s not all we know about her… that’s just the first thing

Prophet

She was a prophet.  There were seers (ro’eh and chozeh) and prophets (nabi).  1 Samuel 9:9 says tells us that prophets were once called seers.  In Judges 4:4 Deborah is called a nabi… a prophet… but she must’ve at one time been called a seer.   Samuel was the only other person who was both a prophet and a judge.

2 Peter 1:21 tells us that prophets were holy “men” who spoke under the power of Holy Spirit.  They were anointed by God to call the people to repentance and to reveal the will of God for Israel.  Numbers 12:6 says that if a person was a prophet then God made Himself known to them in visions and spoke to them in dreams.

The prophets are called by various names including: “Man of God,” “Servant of Jehovah (LORD),” “Messenger of Jehovah,” “Interpreter,” “Sentinel,” “The Man of the Spirit.”  I like the last one… man (or in this case woman!) of the Spirit.  The Old Testament only mentions 4 women prophets…. Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, and Isaiah’s wife (Isaiah 8:3).  And 1 woman prophet who attempted to stop God’s will for Israel….. Noahadia (Numbers 22-24).  

She was a holy woman…. a woman of the spirit.  God spoke to her in dreams and visions. And she boldly spoke under the power of Holy Spirit the will of God for Israel.

She burned for God

In addition to being a woman who restored order to Israel and a prophet who spoke with divine authority, she is referred to as the “wife of Lapidoth.”   His name means flame or torches.  According to rabbinic tradition, she was a keeper of the oil and the lighter of the lamps.  I’m not sure about that because Exodus 30:7-8 and Leviticus 24:3 tell us it was the priest’s (Aaron’s) job to do that.  She wasn’t a priest.  Of course, it may be saying “woman of fire/torches” instead of the wife of Lapidoth.  Either way, whether she was a woman of

Either way, whether she was a woman of lapidot or Lapidoth’s wife, she was a woman who burned for God.  She was a keeper of oil… of Holy Spirit.  She obviously valued and guarded her relationship with Him.  And she was a light given to Israel to deliver them from darkness.

She judged righteously

She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided.

She held court under the Palm of Deborah.  She would judge under a palm tree.  This was her court.  Palm tree means righteousness. Psalm 92 reveals that palm trees represent a life of righteousness that flourishes in God.  Her court would be a reminder to the people that a life of righteousness is what would cause them to flourish.  This would be a refreshing prophetic reminder to them after so many years of cruel oppression….. a wonderful encouragement.  Palm branches also represented victory…. through this woman’s leadership they would achieve victory over their enemies.  

She had Holy Spirit revelation and employed divine wisdom and strategies to influence her world.  John 7:24 tell us to not judge by appearances but to judge all things righteously.  We are to judge things the way God judges them….. His righteous judgments are always founded on restoration and reconciliation. Reconciliation to Him.

We judge righteously by applying 2 Cor 5:20-21 to our life “And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” 

From the palm tree bearing her name, and elsewhere, called “the sanctuary of the palm,” she dispensed righteousness, justice, and mercy.  She was God’s answer to the Israelites, who cried out for help to the LORD, who had been cruelly oppressed for the last 20 years by Jabin, king of Canaan.

 She was abundantly fruitful 

She dwelled under the palm tree (righteousness) between Ramah and Bethel in the valley of Ephraim, which means doubly fruitful.  The one city was Ramah, which means “high place or the seat of idolatry.”   Bethel was known as the house of the Lord with open heavens….. this is where Jacob had his ladder experience in Genesis 28.  Bethel housed the ark of the covenant (Judges 20:27).

From this place, she judged.  From this place that she abided …..victory and righteousness (under the Palm), Deborah was abundantly fruitful.  She turned the Israelites hearts back to God.  Back to a desire for His Presence.  And away from idolatry.  And it stayed this way for 40 years.  Double (Ephraim is double fruitfulness) the time of their oppression.

She would hear from God and release Heaven on earth.  He led, she followed. She led, Israel followed.

She loved well

Of all the things that we learned about Deborah…. a prophet, a judge, a leader of Israel, a military strategist, a warrior, one who burned for God, there were, however, a couple of things she said about herself.  And both of these things are about how she loved…. first God and then out of that, others.

  1. In Deborahs Song, her love for the Lord is described as “like the sun, when it comes in full strength” (Judges 5:31).
  2. She called herself the Mother of Israel.

Deborah was a lover above all things.  She loved well!  She loved God fully — like the sun in full strength.  Hot and bright.  There was no dimness or coolness in her love for Him.  It was a wholehearted love…. one that could pour out to those around her.

She loved Israel. She prayed, interceded and judged them as only a mother can…. tenderly, lovingly… always with a heart of restitution and reconciliation to God.  And she was obviously loved by the people…..the eleven other dispersed tribes of Israel walked for miles and literally risked their lives on the dangerous highways as they pushed through to hear from God, through Deborah’s voice.  They must’ve felt her mother’s love for them.  She felt the ache in their hearts for God. She knew they had come so far, how could they leave empty-handed?  Deborah could hear the groans of the Israelites who were oppressed for 20 years and feel the pounding pain in God’s heart over His peoples sin and oppression. I believe that it was her ability to hear His heartbeat that allowed her to save a nation in a day.

Deborah could hear the groans of the Israelites who were cruelly oppressed for 20 years and feel the love in God’s heart for His people…. a love that wouldn’t give up on them.   It was her ability to hear His heartbeat that allowed her to turn a nation back to Him.  Deborah ruled with the sword of a prophet but with the heart of a mother.  She led well because she loved well.

In “Matthew Henry’s Commentary,” he writes  “…..She was totally devoted to Israel. After Jehovah, Israel was her first love.”

Will you be like a Deborah?  Hearing God’s heartbeat and expressing His love for those who are oppressed?  Judging them in righteousness and victory?  Waging war on an (already defeated) enemy by declaring them free IN CHRIST?

~ Robin

 

 

Wise home builders — Rebecca

I have to confess that I didn’t always think Rebecca was a very wise home builder.  I thought she was a bit manipulative “deceiving” Isaac.  And for favoring one child over the other.  But a few years ago as I was working on my Proverbs 31 Bible study and looking at all of these different women, I began to see Rebecca differently.  I believe I began to see her through Abba’s eyes… and I hope you do too.

Rebecca had been barren for 20 years.  And now, her pregnancy was not an easy one. The Bible says the babies struggled within her.  The Hebrew word for struggled means to crush or oppress.  It sounds like a violent word.  I’ve had 4 babies and they all moved around a lot while I was pregnant and occasionally kicked really hard.  But it wasn’t a violent moving around.  I can’t even imagine what that must’ve felt like.  She wanted to know why this was happening to her….

So Rebecca inquired of the Lord (Genesis 25:22).  This is the first time that a woman is mentioned as “inquiring of the Lord.”  That tells us a lot about Rebecca’s relationship with God.  Something didn’t seem right to her about this pregnancy.  God had blessed her with a baby after 20 years and it didn’t seem “normal” to have sorrow or trouble with it (Proverbs 10:22)….. there was a violent warring going on in her womb.  She obviously had a personal relationship with God and wanted to hear what He had to say on the matter.

In Genesis 25:22-28 tells us that Rebecca inquired of the Lord and He answered her with his plan for the Jews – she had 2 nations at war in her womb. He said they would be divided from birth…. two nations, two kingdoms.  The Hebrew word for nations is goyim, which means both Jewish and Gentile nations.  The Jewish nation of Israel will be from Jacob, and the Gentile nation will be from Esau (later the nation of Edom).  One people will be stronger than the other because Israel will be stronger than Edom. And the older will serve the younger (Second Samuel 8:12-14) because Edom would be enslaved to Israel.

Romans 9:10-13 emphasizes the importance of God’s word to Rebekah.  Before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s purpose in election might stand, not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”  Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”   The LORD’s choice of Jacob, the younger, to inherit His covenant promise was made before the boys were even born. This showed that the choice did not depend on what either did.  This was not about birth order but rather Divine election.  Jacob’s destiny was to produce the lineage that the Deliverer would come…. to be an heir of the Promise (Hebrews 11:9).  

After she had given birth, it says Isaac loved Esau and Rebecca loved Jacob.  This is more than just parental favoritism over children.  Rebecca understood the importance of God’s word to her.  She chose what God had already chosen.  In order to understand this, we have to look at the natures of the two sons.

Esau

Genesis 25:27 gives two descriptions of Esau…..

  • cunning or skillful hunter
  • a man of the field.

He was a skillful hunter.  This isn’t referring to him as a rugged hunter.  A manly man.  An outdoorsman like Daniel Boone.  It isn’t a positive characteristic.  Another man earlier in Genesis is described as a skillful hunter… Nimrod.  Josephus said of Nimrod that he “excited them (the people) to such an affront and contempt of God.”  The meaning of Nimrod’s name is “rebel” or “let us revolt.”  He had contempt for the plans of God and he hunted men, enslaving them in his rebellion.   Esau was a man of the field who knew entrapment.    “Knew how to trap” in the Hebrew implies that he used superficial righteousness to trap with his mouth/words. Basically, he may have talked the talk but he didn’t walk the walk!  He was a man of the flesh who knew how to deceive.  He was a man ruled by his carnal nature… by his senses.

Esau was a man of the field who knew entrapment. “Knew how to trap” in the Hebrew implies that he used superficial righteousness to trap with his mouth or his words.  Basically, he may have talked the talk but he didn’t walk the walk!  He was a man of the flesh who knew how to deceive.  He was a man ruled by his carnal nature… by his senses.

He sold his birthright for a bowl of stew!  Genesis is not the only place we are told that.  It’s mentioned in Hebrews 12:16 Make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau, who traded his birthright as the firstborn son for a single meal.  In this verse he is described as godless and immoral…. a fornicator and profane.  Fornicator would refer to idol worship.  He had married foreign, idolatrous Hittite wives.  Profane refers to people unfit to access (to know) God because they approach Him apart from faith.  Esau didn’t know God.  He gave away his birthright… the verb literally means “to give it away.”  In Genesis 27:34 the fact that he is so upset over Jacob having the Blessing indicates that he had an understanding of how powerful The Blessing was and yet still gave it away… he had an understanding of its power but not a care for it.  It meant nothing to him.

This is Esau.  He had no ethics or faith, no scruples or reverence. He had no regard for the good, the truthful, the divine. He was totally worldly, totally secular, totally profane.  He married foreign women who worshipped other gods and they were a source of grief to his parents… in Hebrew, it says they were bitterness to his parent’s spirits.  Even later he added to those wives one of Ishmael’s daughters.  He had no love for God or the things of God.

Jacob

I think Jacob has gotten a bad rap over the years.  He’s often described as deceitful, a schemer, and stealing the Blessing from Esau.  But how does Holy Spirit describe Jacob in Genesis?  After all, His opinion is the only one that matters.   Genesis 25:27 says he was a plain man who dwelt in tents.

The Hebrew word translated as mild or plain is “tam” meaning complete, pious, perfect, undefiled, and upright. “Tam” is one of the most common words the Bible uses to refer to being wholeheartedly devoted to walking with God. This word is the opposite of our English word “hypocrite.”  He was a man wholeheartedly for God….. sincere in his love for God.   This is the Holy Spirit’s basic assessment of Jacob’s character.

He was a man of integrity who dwelled in tents!  The writer of Hebrews (Hebrews 11:9) says their choice to dwell in tents was an act of faith!  He, like Abraham and Isaac, chooses to focus on the Promise of God.  So from this we know he was a man of faith.  Another character trait of Jacob’s that we see is in chapter 27 when he is pretending to be Esau.  He is kind and gentle.  In verse 19 he asks Isaac to please sit up and eat compared to verse 31 when Esau speaks to his dad he just tells him to sit up and eat.

His name has been defined as “deceiver” but actually, it means heel.  Because as they came out of the womb, Jacob grabbed Esau’s heel.  It doesn’t strike me as a negative word.  Remeber they were struggling (crush or oppress) together in the womb.  It sounds like Jacob was Esau’s determined pursuer…. the one who would overtake and dispossess him.  Hosea 12:3 mentions it and calls it strength.  Rebecca named him according to his destiny….. according to the prophetic promise she had from God.

Rebecca’s intervention

Rebecca like Eve and Sarah held onto God’s Word.  She guarded and protected what God had told her.

Rebekah is often blamed for the partiality or favoritism she manifested for Jacob.  I don’t believe that’s true.  She believed God. She loved Jacob because Jacob was the Lord’s preference. … Rom 9:13 God says Jacob I have loved, Esau I have hated…. speaking of two opposing nations.  An opportunity presented itself and she took it.  In Genesis 27 it says Isaac was going to bless Esau his firstborn as soon as he came back from hunting.  She heard this and then responded in faith.

I’m not sure why Isaac was going to bless Esau with the Blessing.  Esau had already married two Hittite wives and made life miserable for Isaac and Rebecca.  Didn’t Isaac realize that with idolatrous wives it would be difficult to produce the lineage of the Promised Deliver?  That because of idolatry Esau wouldn’t be able to walk in the Blessing that Isaac was giving to him?  All I can determine is that Esau was very cunning and very deceptive and had Isaac completely bewitched.  But regardless of why Isaac was ready to bless Esau, Rebecca was aligned with God’s choice.   Holding onto and acting on the promise God had given her.

Rebecca sided with God’s preference.   She recognized Jacob as the chosen son… just like Isaac had been the chosen son.  Holding onto and acting on the promise God had given her.  Faith requires action.  And Rebecca acted on her faith.  When God blessed her with pregnancy and it wasn’t going so smoothly, she sought God to find out why.  This showed great faith and strength of spirit.  There is no reason not to think that when it seemed like Esau would receive the Blessing that God had promised Jacob that she again sought the Lord in prayer.  That may have given her the confidence she needed to pursue His promise.

She was a woman who had the faith to ask for guidance and who had the faith to follow it; because of her faith, she was able to be a great co-laborer with God and influence the whole course of history.  She was protecting a lineage.  She continued to protect it by sending Jacob away when Esau plotted to murder him.  And also by sending him to find a godly wife instead of an idolatrous Canaanite wife.  Rebekah was a wise home builder risking deception to follow God’s promise, and His plan unfolded exactly as He had told her.

Are you watching over the words God has spoken to you?  Protecting His promises over your family at all costs…. even if your actions and character are misunderstood?  Are you co-laboring with Him to see His plans unfold exactly as He has told you?

~ Robin

Av 5777 (2017)

promisesAv is such a great month.. full of promise… even though on the Hebrew calendar this month is considered to be a low point….. a month of sorrow.  When studying the Hebrew months, we are to look for the redemptive side of things and pull out the treasure… pull out God’s original plans and purposes for each month.  

It was originally meant to be the month that the Israelites entered into the Promise Land but on the 9th of Av, ten of the spies came back with an evil report.. a report full of unbelief.  They came back and gave the people a mixed report(Numbers 13:25-14:10).  They told them that yes it was true that it was a good land…. flowing with milk and honey…. BUT there was no way that they could take the land because the giants were not only bigger than them but too big even for God.  There was a zero chance of success!  That report struck fear into the hearts of the people and caused an entire generation to miss out on entering into the promises of God and they had to in the wilderness for 40 years until they died there!

That story makes me think of Acts 13:36 that David had served his generation well.  It says he served God’s purposes in his generation.  The ten spies didn’t serve their generation well.. they didn’t serve God’s purposes in their generation.  They caused their generation, through their mixed words of unbelief, to miss out on the purposes of God.

I want to be one who serves my generation well.  I want the words of my mouth to cause faith to arise in the hearts of those around me… to release life and destiny to them.  To encourage and help my generation reach their destinies and for the purpose of God to be manifested in their lives.  I choose to speak words of life…  to give a report that stirs the hearts of those around me to press into the promises of God.  So that one day, like David, when it is time for me to “fall asleep” and be buried that it will be said of me that I served the purposes of God in my generation.

So even in a month viewed as a low point on the Jewish calendar, we can choose to see it as God originally intended….a month of goodness, grace and favor.  A month of fulfilled destiny and promise!  A month of Holy Spirit’s transforming power (the 5th Hebrew letter hey which is connected to this month) making us fruitful and productive, taking what we are not and making us into what He has called us to be… as in taking Abram from father to Abraham “father of a multitude”.  

He added part of His name to Abram’s which caused him to be fruitful and productive.  Likewise, He added Himself to us, being made one with us… we are now IN CHRIST and CHRIST is in us….and we are transformed in newness… with His Nature… bearing good fruit.  

The name Av literally means “father.” Av derives from the root, which means, “to will” or “to desire.”  This is a month for us to walk in the Father’s will for us.  It is a month to hear and then speak forth what you have heard from the Father… just like Caleb and Joshua.  They had another spirit… they wholeheartedly followed after God.  They were “filled” with following after God… there wasn’t any room in them for anything else.  They had no plan B… they had no mixed reports.  They heard God’s promises and then saw through eyes of faith that they were well able to take possession of His promises.

Caleb is one of my favorites in the Bible.  He is always so optimistic and full of undaunted faith…. wholehearted and unwavering!  Verse 30 in chapter 13 says that he silenced the people and told them “we are well able to overcome”… in the Hebrew he said we are “yakol yakol”.  He repeated the word, which means able, to have power, to prevail, to overcome!  Repetition of a word shows intensity.  He was in effect saying, “come on boys!!  We’ve got this!!  We can do it… we are strong in the Lord and the power of His might!”

Even when he is 80 and finally ready to enter the promise land with the 2nd generation of Israelites, he asks for the biggest mountain which was inhabited by the fiercest of the enemies to possess!  His faith only got stronger during the 40 years of waiting.  I’m sure he probably spent the 40 years serving this 2nd generation well.   Stirring their hearts with courage and faith so that they would be able to walk in the purposes of God.

In chapter 14 the people had caved and given in to fear because the ten had spread an evil report after Caleb had spoken… that word dibbah means to whisper, to defame or slander.. from a root word meaning to move slowly, to glide, to cause to speak.  Comparable to a word that means to walk slow or leisurely.  These men did more than just “give” an evil report to the congregation…. they did more that just give their fearful opinion of the matter.  These 10 men moved slowly through the camp from one person to the next whispering and slandering the promise of God.  Telling the people that “this land… the land God has given us is not safe.  It devours, it consumes its inhabitants and it is full of “giants of the giants.”  And we saw ourselves as but grasshoppers and therefore they see us like that also!”

Chapter 14 begins with saying they raised a loud cry (in Hebrew they set, or established their voices).  Even after hearing the encouragement of Caleb they made a choice to set their voices to speak contrary to what God had promised.  Then it says they grumbled against Moses. The Hebrew word for grumble or murmur is “lun” which is to lodge, or to abide.  Grumbling, murmuring, complaining was abiding in them instead of the Word of God.  John 15:7 tells us that if we abide in Him and His Word abides in us we can ask whatever we desire and it will be done for us.  Their grumbling pitted them against Moses and Aaron… it actually says “over” Moses and Aaron.  Grumbling not only pits you against leadership but causes you to think you are over or above them.. which is pride.

This caused them to say two things

  1. “we wish we had died in Egypt or in this wilderness”
  2. “God’s purpose was to bring us into a land where we would be prey for the enemy.  It is good that we return to Egypt.  Let’s make… let’s establish or set… a captain, a leader and return to Egypt.”

Wow!! They didn’t just react with fear to the possibility of the Promise Land being hard to conquer…. they spoke out against the purpose of God and accused God of having an evil purpose for them!  

Joshua was another one who was full of faith and courage.  After he and Caleb tore their clothes in response to the Israelite’s words against God, Joshua tried again to encourage these rebellious people.  He assured them that it was a very good land.  In fact he uses the word very twice… a very, very, good land.  An exceedingly, great land!!   He goes on to say that the Lord’s desire is to bring us into and give us a land flowing (gushing or overflowing) with milk and honey.  Overflowing and gushing with ALL GOOD THINGS!  Overflowing and gushing with prosperity and abundance.  He encourages them not to rebel against God and also not to fear the people of the promise land who will be our prey because the Lord is not with them and they have no defense.

The Israelites responded by wanting to stone Joshua and Caleb.

Regardless of the Israelite’s response and the fact that they were not persuaded and moved by Joshua and Caleb’s words, Caleb and Joshua had served their generation well and were allowed to serve the next generation well and enter the Promise Land with them.

God will have a people, even if He has to raise up a second generation to receive and walk out what the first generation refused.

This month be determined to be one who speaks forth a good report… a God report.  Be one who chooses to see with eyes of faith… wholehearted in following after God… in being led by His Spirit into His exceedingly great promises.  Be a strong leader of faith, encouraging others to step out into God’s purposes for their life.  Serve your generation well – Acts 13:36

~ Robin

SaveSave

Wise home builders — Sarah

The wisest of women builds her house, (she saves her household with her wisdom) but folly (lack of good sense or judgment) tears it down with her own hands”  ~ Proverbs 14:1

In this series of A Woman’s Purpose we are looking at how God created women.  What did it look like when His thought took on human flesh in the form of a woman.  Proverbs 31 is a beautiful look at how He sees all of us women.  The characteristics that He placed inside of all of us that manifest so uniquely in each of us.  All a beautiful expression of who He is in us.  He created us to be strong gate keepers of our families.  To be wise home builders…. legacy builders…. building and preserving faith in future generations.

There are so many women in Old and New Testament who were wise builders of their homes.  Yesterday we looked at Eve.  Through the naming of her children, she spoke forth her expectation for a Deliverer to rescue mankind from their hopeless state.  Over the next few blog posts we’ll look at several more women who I especially love…. Sarah, Rebecca, Abigail, Deborah, Huldah, Jael, Esther, the Unknown woman of Abel Beth Maacah and some women in the New Testament.  Hopefully these women will inspire you like they’ve inspired me.

In Wonder Woman (part 1 of this series) we learned that in order for a wise woman to build her house… to build her legacy IN CHRIST, it’s going to require discernment.  God put hostility or hatred between the serpent and the woman.  Between in the Hebrew comes from a word meaning discernment.  It’s going to take discernment on our part as women to recognize when the enemy is in our midst and trying to wreak havoc in our homes.

Sarah was such a woman who walked in discernment.

Go with me to two Scriptures… Genesis 21:8-12 and Galatians 4:29

  • Genesis 21:8-12:  When Isaac grew up and was about to be weaned, Abraham prepared a huge feast to celebrate the occasion. But Sarah saw Ishmael—the son of Abraham and her Egyptian servant Hagar—making fun of her son, Isaac. So she turned to Abraham and demanded, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son. He is not going to share the inheritance with my son, Isaac. I won’t have it!” This upset Abraham very much because Ishmael was his son. But God told Abraham, “Do not be upset over the boy and your servant. Do whatever Sarah tells you, for Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.
  •  Galatians 4:29 Amp.  Yet [just] as at that time the child [of ordinary birth] born according to the flesh despised and persecuted him [who was born remarkably] according to [the promise and the working of] the [Holy] Spirit, so it is now also. 

The verse in Genesis 21 shows us the discernment that Sarah walked in which protected her family.    We all know the story of Genesis 16 of how Abraham was promised a son (a seed) and after awhile Sarah offered to let him lie with Hagar because perhaps that’s how she could have a son with Abraham… through Hagar giving birth.  So Hagar gives birth to Ishmael.  In chapter 17 God makes a covenant with Abraham… actually with Himself.  He tells Abraham that he will have a son with his wife Sarah and will name him Isaac.  Isaac not Ishmael is the son of promise… the seed of the Deliverer.  Jump ahead to chapter 21 and Sarah indeed gives birth to Isaac.

As Isaac is weaned from Sarah, Abraham throws a huge feast to celebrate.  During the celebration, Sarah sees Ishmael making fun of.. or mocking Isaac.  So she turns to Abraham and tells him to “cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.” (verse 10).  Seems like harsh treatment against Hagar and her son… after all, kids will be kids right?  But Ishmael wasn’t exactly a kid.  Isaac was probably 2 or 3 and that would’ve made Ishmael 16 or 17!

This was much more than just an older brother being jealous of a younger brother or two women competeing over which one of them is more important or which son is more important.  Ishmael’s mockery revealed that he didn’t have any spiritual insight and saw nothing special about Isaac as the promised son.  No spiritual insight….. carnal.  Similar to Esau or Cain.  Not a lover of righteousness.

Sending Hagar and Ismael away means divorcing Hagar and disinheriting Ishmael.  According to laws of the land (Code of Hammurabi) in Abraham’s day, the inheritance rights passed to the son that is “accepted” by the father and thus, Ishmael had to be sent away in order to pass the inheritance rights to Isaac.

While it’s pretty clear that God doesn’t consider Ishmael Abraham’s son…it looks like Abraham does consider him his son.  In chapter 17 (when Ishmael is 13 years old) God just refers to him as Ishmael but verse 23 it says Abraham took Ismael, his son, and and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.  Looks like he made a distinction between Ishmael as his son and everyone else in his house.   Even in chapter 21 when Sarah has Abraham send Ismael away, God refers to him as the boy and to Hagar as the female slave, maidservant.  

Sarah obviously didn’t view Ishmael as his son.  In chapter 21 he is referred to by her as the son of the slave woman.   Although in chapter 16 she fully expected to have a son with Abraham through Hagar… who would act as a kind of surrogate for them.  But Hagar.  Hagar after she conceives, rather quickly it appears, she then despises her mistress.  She looked upon Sarah as less than…. of no importance.  The root of despise is curse… she looked at her as being cursed because she couldn’t conceive.  Perhaps Hagar’s bitter, resentful attitude at not being the mistress carried over to her son…. who became hostile and offended towards Isaac, “the promised son”.

Galatians 4:29 gives us the reason for the banishment of Hagar and Ishmael… he despised and persecuted Isaac, the child of promise.  He pursued him with hostility.

She saw correctly and through her discernment she helped guide her husband in God’s plans for Isaac.  God told Abraham to listen to his wife and send Hagar and Ismael away. We have to be careful not to insert our own opinions into this story.  Sarah was not jealous or harsh.  She was protecting the lineage of the Deliverer.

She was being a wise builder of her home……

  • Sarah had Godly discernment

She saw correctly that Ishmael was a threat to Isaac’s destiny and respectfully opposed Abraham.  Guiding him in choosing between the son of the flesh or the son of the promise.  

God told Abraham to listen to his wife and send Hagar and Ismael away. Why should Abraham listen to Sarah’s voice this time when it was the wrong thing to do before (he listened to her in regards to sleeping with Hagar)? Because this time Sarah had realigned herself with the purpose of God. She chose faith over the power of the flesh to fulfill what God had spoken.

Are you properly discerning those who are coming against the promises of God in your life?

Are you taking a stand to protect your children from those who would speak against their call and destiny in God?

Are you properly aligned with the purpose of God for your family in faith so that your husband can trust your discernment….. your judgement in matters that help guide his destiny?

Discernment is keen perception or judgment.  It is to understand the plans, intent, thought or motive. Discernment goes beyond just the words spoken and hears the spirit behind things that are said or done.

To grow in discernment, we need to be renewing our minds in the Word of God… getting the mind of Christ functioning in our minds.. to be guided by His thoughts, purposes, and intents.

Tomorrow we’ll look at Rebecca……

~ Robin

Wise home builders — Eve

The wisest of women builds her house, (she saves her household with her wisdom) but folly (lack of good sense or judgment) tears it down with her own hands”     ~ Proverbs 14:1

Yesterday I began a blog post series on “A Woman’s Purpose”  entitled Wonder Woman.  God created us as women in His image and likeness.  I didn’t grow up with that understanding.  I didn’t grow up in church, so everything I knew about a woman’s purpose came either from TV or from observing my parents relationship.

My dad was a good man.  A good provider and protector of his family.  He was however extremely chauvinistic and domineering.  My mom, while she was a strong woman, she was very submissive.  That was what the expected roles in marriage. They grew up in an era where women didn’t have many career options, and in marriage, the man was the supreme head of the house… there was no equality.   I, on the other hand, grew up in the era of Mary Tyler Moore, Charlie’s Angels, and Laverne & Shirley… all independent women who had freedom, careers and no husband to submit to.

So, not surprisingly, I wanted a life different from my mom’s.  I moved out on my own at 19 because all of those women in the tv shows lived on their own. I wanted a career, and I didn’t want to get married until I was 30… after becoming self-sufficient, living a life that I wanted…. having freedom and not being told what to do by a domineering husband.  

I believed that women kind of got the short end of the stick.  That our purpose was to live a life of submission… never questioning our husband’s absolute authority or decisions.  I realize now that God created us in His image and likeness…. that we are as Proverbs 31 calls us “virtuous women” or “women of excellence”.  

Proverbs 31 became very special to me in my late 20’s.  Steve (my husband) read it to me before we started “officially” dating and told me that it described me.  In his eyes, I was the Proverbs 31 woman.  Of course, after marriage and babies, I began to have a love/hate relationship with the Proverbs 31 woman.  It seemed so far out of reach…. this woman appeared to be a type of wonder woman!  Unattainable for someone like me!! It seemed like I was always falling so short and that God had set the bar too high for me.  It looked like a domestic checklist, and I wasn’t exactly Martha Stewart!

But then God began to give me the revelation that it is a picture of who I was created to be and it’s how He sees me “now”…… not someday when I get it all together.

Phil 1:6:  being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you (me….Robin) will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 

There are 150 words in Hebrew in this poem (Proverbs 31).  The word “female” in Hebrew is nekeiva (nun-kuf-beit-hei).  This number, when represented by Hebrew letters, is nun kuf (the first two letters o the word female in Hebrew).  The last two letters in the Hebrew word female is beit hei which is a spelling for the Hebrew word “bah” which means “within her”..  literally 150 in her.

So, the word for female, nekeiva, can be read as “150 within her.”   All the words, all the meaning, all the potential and all the beauty of the 150 words is within us as women.  I don’t have to strive to become this woman, it’s already in me waiting for me to walk in the revelation of it.  We are right now fully equipped by God to be what our husbands need to excel and to prosper as men of God. 

In the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, there is a scene where the two older women are talking to the younger woman about their power/strength as a woman.  They tell her that “the woman, she is the neck and she turns the head whichever direction she chooses.”  While it’s funny, there is truth to it.   We as women are the neck… either to manipulate it by turning it the direction “we” choose or to be the support system that allows the “head” (our husbands) to function in full mobility.

The term “woman of valor” is only used in the Old Testament to describe Ruth. There are, however, other women in the Bible who were beautiful women of excellence in their families.  They were wise builders of their homes… protecting the seed.. securing their future generations.  Hating evil and loving righteousness.  Respectfully opposing their husbands when the need arose to protect the direction of God in their lives.

One of those women is Eve.  I know, I know we tend to only remember that she sinned and caused the fall of man in the Garden.  She chose to believe the enemy instead of God.  But after leaving the Garden, Eve held on to what God said in Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

This was her promise!  A seed would come forth from her…. a seed that would hate evil and love righteousness.  A deliverer would come from her!

  • She held onto the promise of God and spoke it forth…

Genesis 4:1 reveals to us that when she gave birth to Cain, she had the promise of God before her….. she knew she had acquired this child from the Lord.  She sounds like she fully expected that the promise was fulfilled when she had her first child.  Here was the offspring that would crush the enemies head!

Hebrews 10:23 tells us to “hold fast to the hope set before us”…. Eve was doing just that by naming the son Cain.  The name Cain basically meant “I’ve got him” or “here he is.” Most likely Eve thought that Cain was the seed that God promised, the deliverer who would come from Eve.

Obviously, this didn’t prove to be true.  But Eve continued to believe……

  • She persevered with what God had said even after she was wrong the first time

When Cain killed Abel her expectations of the “promised seed” came to naught. Later, when she bore Seth she exclaimed, “For God has appointed another seed.”  She held fast to hope of the promise.

With Cain, she was expressing her faith in God’s promise.  In Hebrew, it reads kaniti ish et-Adonai, “I have gotten a man – namely, the Lord“.  This expressed her hope that this child would be the promised Deliverer in the flesh form of a man.  At some point, she noticed the differences between her sons.  She would’ve noticed that Abel, not Cain, was a lover of righteousness.  Perhaps he was the seed.  After he is murdered her hope is restored through the birth of Seth.

She said of Seth, “God has appointed me another seed, instead of Abel”  She seemed to have an understanding when she gave birth to Seth that God had assigned another seed for her.  The promised Deliverer would not be brought forth from her but rather she would give birth to an appointed seed.   And that seed that would produce a lineage that would one day give birth to the Deliverer.

The next couple of verses in chapter 4 tell us that through Seth’s descendant’s men began calling on the Name of the Lord.  They had faith in God as the Faithful One…. keeping His covenant promise with them.   And they began proclaiming who He was in their lives.

Eve was a wise builder of her home… of her future generations.  She is a beautiful example to us of a woman with steadfast faith. A woman of excellence…. directing her family in the promises of God.  She looked ahead to Christ and His redemption of mankind.

Are you holding on to the promises of God… holding fast to hope?  Speaking out His promises over your families lives?  Even when you miss it….. continuing steadfast until you see the manifestation of it?  

Next blog post we’ll look at Sarah 

~ Robin

Wonder Woman

This is the first in a series of blog posts about “A Woman’s Purpose.”  It’s important that as women we see ourselves as God sees us… as He created us to be.  A couple of weeks ago my daughters (both young women now) told me that I was a combo of Wonder Woman and Belle (on Beauty and the Beast).  Great compliment from my girls.  They see me as strong and powerful and yet at the same time compassionate and kind.  I love that!

We are Daddy’s girls.  We belong to Him.  He took special care in creating us… each of us uniquely reflecting Him.

When we can begin to see ourselves through our Daddy’s eyes we will fulfill our destiny as women of God… Kingdom women.  And as a result, our marriages, families, churches, cities, and nation will all be stronger because of it.

true beauty

 

Because there is nothing more beautiful than a woman who knows who she is IN CHRIST.

We are beautiful, powerful and created on purpose as women!

 

We were created with a purpose..….

  • to reflect the image of God… His glory!
  • to have dominion… dominion is when a person uses their influence to cause those under them to flourish.
  • to be a life giver… Adam called his wife Eve which means “the life-giving one.”  We are to release life….
    • One of the ways we release life is through our words
      • Prov 18:21 “death and life are in the power of the tongue.”
      • Romans 4:17 “…the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.”

God loves His daughters.  He created us differently than He created men.  He took great care with us!  We are the grand finale of His creation… His masterpiece…. His pièces de résistance!!

In Genesis 2:20-22 God creates a suitable helpmeet for Adam.  Woman was “built” not formed like Adam was.  Formed means to press and form into shape as a potter does with clay.  Built is to be “skillfully formed”.…it’s an architectural plan or pattern, including all the details of arrangement and decoration.

According to Jewish tradition, “The woman came out of a man’s rib. Not from his feet to be walked on. Not from his head to be superior, but from the side to be equal. Under the arm to be protected, and next to the heart to be loved.”

Our Daddy has a special love for His girls. He wrote an entire Proverb about us women to show us what we look like in His eyes.   I used to not like Proverbs 31 because it seemed like such an unattainable goal!!  How could I possibly be all those things that this woman is??   But God didn’t give us a picture of a woman that we couldn’t be!  He didn’t even give us a picture of a woman we should strive to become.  What He did give us in this picture of the Proverbs 31 woman is a picture of a woman we already are…. what He sees when He looks at us.  

We don’t have to strive to become this woman… she is not an ideal that we are trying to achieve.  All her qualities are already in us waiting for us to walk in it.  The Proverbs 31 woman in the Hebrew is described like this…. “who can find powerful, mighty, vailiant woman?”….  Synonyms for these 3 words include wielding power, superhuman, influential, strong, unafraid and brave.  Wow!

proverbs 31

This woman in its simplest translation is a warrior.  God is saying with this Proverb… this is who you are woman of God!!  Powerful, mighty, brave, strong, and influential.  The reason we don’t walk in these characteristics or see ourselves like this is because we’ve allowed others to tell us who we are.. we’ve allowed they’re negative words to shape us and to define us.

It’s time we start allowing the Word to mold us into the women He has called us to be.  A great place to find out who we were created to be is to go back to Genesis.

Adam was incomplete without her.  The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him. NIV Gen 2:18…  we were created as a “good” thing… as something good for men.  Someone to help him and someone suitable for him.

ezer kenegdo

 

Helper in this verse is a weak translation… it’s more powerful in the original Hebrew.. it means to be a life saver.  In Hebrew suitable helper is ezer kenegdo.  The word “ezer” is a combination of two words meaning to rescue or to save and also meaning to be strong.  Literally an aid, a help, a guard, and a protector.  One who offers assistance…. a kind of ”wall builder” or “gate keeper”.

Helper, or “ezer”, is not an inferior role to a man.  God Himself is called our Helper (or our Ezer).  Ezer describes aspects of God’s character – He is our strength, our rescuer, our protector, and our help!   And this was His word choice to describe us as women.  We were made to be a vessel of the “ezer” strength of God.  It is a remarkable thing to co-labor with Him as women….. as a helper even as God is our Helper.

The word suitable is “kenegdo” in Hebrew and means “what is in front of” and also “according to” and translates as equal and adequate to himself or similar.  God made a ‘power’ or ‘strength’ [ an ezer] for the man who would in every way ‘correspond to him’ who would ‘be his equal’.  Who would be a  source of strength to him on the same level, face-to-face

“Ezer” is used to describe a warrior who continually fights for the right and who is never intimidated by evil or by darkness…..a warrior on behalf of God’s kingdom, joining the man in battling the darkness, advancing God’s kingdom, and watching his back.  She was never designed to just be “man’s assistant.”  Ezer is a military image… a shield, a defense.  She is the man’s intercessor, she is his shield and defense in battle.  She is to guard his relationship with God, support him when he embraces God’s direction and respectfully oppose him when he does not.

But what about women who aren’t married?  What does it mean to be a helpmate if you are single?  An Ezer is not a wife.. “ezer” is a helper… a shield, a defense.  An ezer is one who comes alongside another and brings strength to others.

Proverbs 14:1  The wisest of women builds her house, (she saves her household with her wisdom) but folly (lack of good sense or judgment) tears it down with her own hands”.  

How does a wise woman build her house?  Remember she’s a kind of wall builder or gate keeper…She guards and protects her family… including her future generations.  She “builds” in them the Kingdom of God….she builds in them a love for righteousness and a hatred of evil.

Romans 13:12 says, we must wake up, rise up, remember who we are, and confront the evil in this world with light.  It’s time as women to wake up and rise up.  To know who we are IN CHRIST.  To walk in the Light declaring that evil has no access to our homes or our future generations.

Let’s go back again to Genesis.  Why did Satan approach Eve instead of Adam?  Remember as an ezer, Eve was Adam’s protector… his help and rescuer.  She was the gatekeeper.  Adam was right there with her… the Hebrew implies he was close enough to touch her.   Satan knew if he could deceive Eve, he could get to Adam

After the fall… God curses the serpent in Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Enmity means to be an enemy; to hate as one of an opposite tribe; to be hostile.  God, in essence, said to the serpent.  “Women will be your enemy.  They will hate you and be hostile toward you from this day forward.  Furthermore, the hostility women have toward you will be reproduced in everyone they give birth to and one day a woman will give birth to the Savior of the world who will stomp on your head so hard it will bruise His heel.”

God put hostility or hatred between the serpent and the woman.  Between in the Hebrew comes from a word meaning discernment.  It’s going to take discernment on our part as women to recognize when the enemy is in our midst and trying to wreak havoc in our homes.  Discernment is keen perception or judgment.  It is to understand the plans, intent, thought or motive. Discernment goes beyond the obvious to hear the spirit

Discernment is keen perception or judgment.  It is to understand the plans, intents, thoughts or motives of another. Discernment goes beyond the obvious and hears the spirit behind things that are said or done.

rooted in christ

To grow in discernment, we need to be renewing our minds in the Word of God… getting the mind of Christ functioning in our minds.. to be guided by His thoughts, purposes, and intents;

 

There are some women in the Bible that were wise builders of their homes… protecting the seed.. their future generations.  Hating evil and loving righteousness and making sure their families walked securely.

In my next few blog posts, we’ll look at some of those women.

~ Robin