A Woman's Super Power

Looking back over our twenty two years of marriage, I think one of my favorite lines my husband ever says to me is, "You like having 'the power', don't you?" Basically what he's saying is, "You know I can't say no to you!" I love it!

Every woman, every where has a certain amount of "power" over men. Sometime it come in the form of the ability to charm our way into getting what we want, the ability to help influence big decisions, or the ability to turn a mans head with our beauty. As you  might have guessed, that's a lot of power, and that power, just like any other, can be used for bad or good.

Many men have been led astray by women who use their charms for evil. In Second Kings 21:25, there is an interesting statement made about a woman. "No one else so completely sold himself to what was evil in the Lord's sight as Ahab did under the influence of his wife, Jezebel." That's a pretty condemning statement. The writer of this book not only recorded the evil that Ahab had done, but also took the time to point out that Ahab had been influenced by his wife to do these evil things. In this case, death and destruction came to this man's house because he gave in to his woman.

But what about the reverse of this story? What happens to the family when a woman uses her powers for good? There are many many stories of influential women in the Bible, but one of my favorite women is Abigail. In 1 Samuel 25, David sent some of his young men to Nabal with greetings of peace and prosperity along with a request for kindness and shelter. Naba, the Bible says,  screamed and cursed at the men saying that he didn't know who this David is and why should he help out and provide for this David's servants. When David heard what had happened he was furious. He told his men to strap on their swords. 

Let me point out here that Nabal, at this point, has one good thing going for him. Before all of this occurred there is a statement made about Nabal and  his wife. Look at verse three, "This man's name was Nabal, and his wife, Abigail, was a sensible woman. But Nabal, a descendant of Caleb, was crude and mean in all his dealings." Nabal was given to violence and anger but Nabal's wife was sensible. This sensible, and if I might add - courageous woman, soon found out that David was coming to destroy her home, her children and her servants. Abigail began to gather gifts to be used as peace offerings to present to David, the very man that was about to destroy her entire household. Abigail rides down to where David and his men are and stops right in front of them. This is her request,"I accept all the blame in this matter…I know Nabal is a wicked and ill-tempered man; please don't pay any attention to him. He is a fool, just as his name suggests."(verses 24-25) Abigail then proceeds to pronounce curses on all of David's enemies and blessings on the house of David. She recognizes his courage and his kindness. She sweet talked him! AND she changed his mind. That day, Abigail used her womanly powers to save her household!

So today, what kind of woman are you? 

What kind of woman are you teaching your daughter to be? 

What kind of woman are you influencing others to be?

How will you affect your home with your "Womanly Powers?"

The One Hit Wonder

We all know the songs "Cotton Eye Joe", "Kung Fu Fighting",  and "Who Let the Dogs Out", but the one thing these songs have in common is that the bands that sang these songs never had another big hit. These bands were all one hit wonders. They showed up, sang a catchy song and were pretty much never heard of again.

In 2 Kings chapter 4, we read about the woman from Shunem. This woman and her husband befriended God's prophet Elisha. In fact, the two of them had a room built onto their home for Elisha so that any time  he was in town, he would have a place to stay.  The woman and her husband never asked for anything in return. Elisha and his servant Gehazi, noticed that the woman had no children and prayed to God on her behalf. The woman from Shunem became pregnant and gave birth to a son the following year. All was right with the world, until one day, the young boy was working in the fields with his father when he suddenly became ill. The boy died later that day in his mothers arms. The mother carried the boy up to Elisha's room and laid him on Elisha's bed, then she went directly to Elisha. The broken hearted mother saw God raise her son back to life that day. Undoubtedly, there was much celebration in the household that day.

End of Story…right?

No! In second Kings 8, we read again about the woman from Shunem. A famine is about to take over the land so Elisha finds the woman, now widowed, and warns her about the famine. He tells her to go to the land of the Philistines and stay there until the famine has passed. She and her son will be saved. So the woman leaves her home, her people, her possessions and does as the prophet of God tells her. After the famine is over, the woman returns to her homeland, just as she was told. Her plan is to go to the king and ask him to restore her property to her and allow her to live out her days in the land. As she enters the palace, guess who is there? Elisha's servant Gahazi. He is talking to the king. Can you guess what the conversation was about? At the very moment that the woman arrived in the palace, the king and Gahazi were talking about the woman from Shunam and the time that Elisha raised her son from the dead. Gahazi turned around and pointed at the woman and said, "Look, my lord the king!…Here is the woman now, and this is her son - the very one Elisha brought back to life!" (2Kings 8:5) God had already prepared the heart of the king to provide for this woman and her son. 

Many times we read fantastic stories about real people in the Bible and we forget about them. This story was one of those for me. The story of how God provided for the woman from Shunem was a one hit wonder to me. I knew about the beginning of her story. God gave her a son and then he raised her son from the dead, BUT God is not a one hit wonder. He was there for her entire story, from beginning to end. He was there when she cared for his prophet. God was there when she had no children of her own. God was there when her son died. God was there to bring her through to the end of her story.

Friends, hold onto the times that God has shown Himself faithful to you in the past. Trust Him. Have faith in Him. He will not abandon you.

 God is not a "one hit wonder".