The other day I read an article on how a woman was presenting her thesis in booty shorts and when the lecturer commented about her dressing being unprofessional, she decided to strip down to her undies....and the caption on it was...'Such bravery!' and most readers were applauding her behavior....then the same day a friend shared a video of a woman complaining at a restaurant and to make her point to the management of the institution, she removed her pants and did some things I do not even want to repeat here and jokingly my friend captioned it as..'strength of a woman'....I could go on and on about the things around us today that people applaud and consider as women being courageous.
I want to share stories of women in the bible, who I consider showed courage...real courage. I believe, real courage comes from a place where someone does something despite being fearful to achieve a greater good, to change something for the better and not make it worse. So these three ladies, were courageous enough to do the things they did which changed the world forever and I hope we can learn a few things from them.
1. Mary-Mother of Jesus
Just like any other engaged young woman, she must have been so excited and looking forward to her big day when she will finally be one with the man of her dreams. Probably just like any other young christian couple who are about to get married, they had probably been praying and fasting for their big day to be successful. Then the same God she was praying to sends an angel to tell her that she will have a child without being with a man and He will be named Jesus who will be called the son of the Most High. Then the amazing thing about this story is that, Mary simply told the Angel... “I am willing to be used of the Lord. Let it happen to me as you have said.”
Whoa! Hold up! Mary, but you are about to get married!, aren't you worried that Joseph will leave you? that you will not have your dream wedding? that people will talk? Everyone knows you are a virgin, how will you explain this to them?
None of these things mattered to her at this moment, ALL she wanted was to be used of the Lord. Such that she was willing to give up her plans for the sake of being used by God. We all know how things turned out....
Are you willing to be courageous enough to give up your plans, your ambitions, your dreams, a relationship, a job, a way of living etc for the sake of being used of the Lord? Are you? Do you have the kind of courage that will make you trust in God enough to believe He has a great plan for you even if you do not see it at the moment? to believe that He is who He says He is, that He is a provider, protector and healer?
Trusting God is not a leap in the dark, but it is a bold step into an amazing life which only He can give.
2. Samaritan Woman- The woman at the well
So this woman used to go fetch water during the day so that she would not meet the other women because she was the talk of the town. She was the woman, no woman wanted her husband or son to look her way, she was the woman who people would whisper when she passes and maybe some even shout at her and call her 'shameless' for having been with 4 dudes already and now she was getting it on with the 5th one.
Then one day as she was going to fetch water, she met up with Jesus and she was amazed that He knew the mess she had made of her life and even when she was honest about to it with Him, He didn't stand up from the well in utter shock nor did He make her feel bad about herself but instead He spoke to her with love and revealed Himself to her as the Messiah which changed her life forever!
Here is the interesting part, this woman who probably walked around with her head down and never wanted to bump into the town's people because of how they would treat her, at this moment, she no longer cared about what these people think about her when she rushed back to the town to tell them about Jesus. She left her water jar there and forgot all about her insecurities, her past, everything! and she...out of all the people....had the nerve to tell people about the Jesus.....and surprisingly people came out probably out of curiosity or because they were surprised that she would dare do this. Because of this, many people from her town believed in Jesus that day.......
Her encounter with Christ freed her from her struggles and from her mess....it gave her courage to talk about Christ even when many would think she was not worthy to....this encounter ignited a fire in her that despite what people would say or think of her...she was unashamed of talking about Christ.
Have you encountered Christ? Do you know that there is freedom in Him? That you do not have to live the way you do now? I hope you will accept Christ into your life, He is more than able to make the much needed change you need in your life.
Being in Christ makes us courageous because there is freedom in Christ to be the best version of ourselves and make a lasting change in our generation.
3. Esther
After Queen Vashti was deposed because of refusing to join the King at his banquet, it was time to get a new Queen. So the search for beautiful, young virgins (quoted from the bible) started and Esther was among those chosen and long story short, she became Queen.
There was a plot by Haman (Haman was an Agagite and the son of Hammedatha. Haman was likely a descendent of Agag, king of the Amalekites, long-time enemies of the Jewish people. God had told King Saul to destroy the Amalekites centuries earlier (1 Samuel 15:3), but Saul failed to obey the command. His disobedience led to the loss of his kingdom and, in Esther’s time, the threat of annihilation for all Jews)...anyway Haman was plotting on killing Jews.
The whole time Esther was Queen, she had never revealed she was a Jew because Mordecai (her uncle) instructed her to do. When Mordecai heard of this plot, he sent word to Esther requesting her to intervene for her people by going before the King. I believe the question he posed to Esther asking her.... "And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”must have convinced her to agree to this.
Esther requested that all the Jews in that area to fast and pray for three days for her even as she did the same before she would go before the King. It was forbidden to go to the King without being summoned, hence Esther would risk her life for doing this. So on the third day she wore her royal robes and went before the King and surprise surprise! she earned favor in his eyes and she was allowed to come to him....long story short.. Haman ended up dead and the Jews were saved.
So I will pose the same question to you, do you believe that you are in the position you are in now. in the family you are born in, working where you are or going to school where you are for such a time as this? For a time where the gospel is not popular, where being a Christian is not the coolest thing you can do.....what if you were born into the family you are in, going to the school you are going, working where you are working, serving where you are serving etc because God has specifically placed you there do His will, to be a light and salt? Will you step up and be courageous to be used of God just like Esther did?
You were created to fulfill a specific purpose that ONLY YOU can.
Thing is, ALL these women would never have changed the world forever if they didn't show courage and mostly because they showed it in order to obey God. Hence courage that is not applied as a response to obeying God is just plain old bold foolishness..lol
I would love to hear from you on more women from the bible who were courageous.
