Last month our young women’s Sunday school class started a series of lessons on the women of the Bible. We will study a new woman each week – in chronological order of the Bible. Each week is a challenge for me as I begin my studies; first reading scripture that names the woman and then investigating what was happening in her world at that time. It seems that no matter how much I study I am still working on my lesson plan even as late as Sunday morning. There is so much more to learn about these women than the few defining moments that were recorded in scripture. There are so many life applications that can be explored through their lives but finally at the end of the week I am forced to narrow down my studies to just a few points that I feel God is prompting me to share with these young women in my class. They get 30 minutes and I pray that they leave knowing more than when they came but for me this has been an intense walk through the Bible. I wish space would allow for me to share every morsel that God has given me but again I am forced to choose just a few items of interest in this blog. I challenge each of you to journey through the Bible with me using the lives of these women to discover a world that we make all too finite when we choose to contain it within a few short passages of scriptures. These people lived long lives that were intertwined with the lives of others just like us. There is so much more to their lives and it is all there for us to discover within the pages of the Bible.
Eve – She blew it!
When Adam and Eve were in the garden they had no need for anything. They shared equal status as the male and female counterpart, the environment was perfect and they knew no sin. The consequence of their sin got them thrown out the garden and into a life of hard work and toil. Eve became under submission to Adam as the head of the home and Adam was given responsibility for the family.
Noah’s Wife – A virtuous woman?
She would have had to have been a wonderful help meet to Noah. God had given him a great work to do and he would have needed his wife to be by his side and work just as hard as him to accomplish God’s will for their lives. As wives we are still called today to stand by our husband as his help meet.
Sarah – Did she get ahead of God?
Her lack of faith in God’s ability to bring about His promises led to her taking matters into her own hands. Fourteen years later God proved that He had been able all along. Even today as we look at the Arab nation we are still experiencing the consequences of her actions. Sarah made decisions for her family that was not hers to make, even though her husband allowed it she should have waited on God.
Lot’s Wife- Why did she look back?
As a citizen of Sodom she was surrounded by wickedness and its influence. Her husband Lot could have had more influence on her but he apparently had learned to compromise and go with the flow. She lost her life in the same way that those today who reject Jesus and cling to the world will lose theirs. She had the benefit of knowing about Lot’s God even if he was not the leader he should be. She willingly chose to look back and we too have that same choice.
Hagar – The mother of the Arab nation.
Pray for me this week as I study the life of this Egyptian handmaid who bore Abram his first son – Ishmael, who later established the Arab nation.
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