Heroines of the Faith

I love to read the stories in the Bible where ‘gutsy’ women are celebrated. The word ‘gutsy’ can be translated in many ways, including being courageous, brave, heroic, lionhearted, daring, audacious and undaunted. Rahab was such a woman. She knew that the God of Israel had given the land of Canaan to His people the Hebrews, and that her people were marked for destruction. This fact could have paralysed her with fear, but instead she showed great ingenuity. After hiding the spies, she made them swear that they would be kind to her and her family, once the Lord had given them the land. She not only put her life into the hands of these two Hebrew spies, but also into the hands of the God of Israel.

Jericho did fall before Israel and Rahab and her family were spared. The spies moved them to a safe place near the camp of Israel (Joshua 6:23). Rahab eventually became one of God’s chosen people, though, as we read in the ancestry of Jesus that she married Salmon, who fathered Boaz, who fathered Obed, who fathered Jesse, who became the father of King David (Matthew 1 :5-6 & Ruth 4:17).

Rahab is only one of many heroines of the faith in the bible. Ruth is another. Like Rahab she was a foreigner and thus outside the covenant God had made with Israel. Yet, like Rahab, she chose to take refuge under God’s wings (Ruth 2:12). Refusing to abandon her poverty-stricken mother-in-law, Naomi, Ruth declared that Naomi’s people would be her people, and Naomi’s God, her God (Ruth 1:16). You will also find her in the record of the ancestors of Jesus (Matthew 1:5).

There is not time or space to speak of Abigail, whose quick thinking and actions prevented King David from sinning (1 Samuel 25) or Deborah, who judged Israel (Judges 4-5) or Esther, who became Queen of Persia, or the woman with the issue of blood in Matthew 9, who crawled through a noisy, pushy crowd in order to touch the hem of Jesus cloak. And then there is the Canaanite woman, in Matthew 15, who refused to be sent away or silenced until her suffering child was delivered. All were ‘gutsy’ ladies who put their hope in the God of Israel and are remembered in Scripture for doing so. My desire is to be like them. How about you?

Prayer: Father God, the Bible is full to overflowing with stories of heroes and heroine of the faith, who took refuge in You and were wholeheartedly embraced. I want to be one of them too. Help me to keep my eyes upon You, no matter what circumstances arise, or challenges come. In Jesus’ name, Amen.