Women Shaped By God

Women Shaped by God

Proverbs 31:30-31 “Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.”

Max Lucado in his book, Next Door Savior, says that Moms are a breed apart.

“Only a mother can power a baby’s behind with one hand and hold the phone with the other. Only a mom can discern which teen is entering the door just by the sound of the key in the lock. Only a mom can spend a day wiping noses, laundering enough socks for the Yankees, balancing a checkbook down to $1.27, and still mean it when she thanks God for her kids.

Some things only a mom can fix. Like Hamburger Helper without the hamburger. Like the cabinet door her husband couldn’t and his bruised ego when he found out that she could. Broken shoelace? Broken heart? Breaking out on your face? Braking up with your sweetheart? Moms can handle that. Some things only a mom can fix.

Some things only a mom can know. The time it takes to drive from piano lessons to Little League practice? She knows. How many pizzas you need for a middle school sleepover? Mom knows.

We men usually don’t. The kids are usually clueless. Moms are a breed apart.”

I know a young bewildered boy who grew up in a small town in Kansas. He had one sister four years older than he. His father lived in his own world. This Dad lived most of his life without a personal commitment to Jesus as Savior and Lord. He was gone from home more than he was at home. This Dad talked a blue language, drank too much booze and liquor, and from time to time was a womanizer. He very seldom had time for his son or played any games with his son.

In the providence of God the mother in the home was a devout Christian. She prayed and dedicated her two children to the Lord. She put God first and her family second. She taught school to provide for her children. She faithfully took them to church and encouraged them through four years of college and three additional years for her son to attend seminary.

I was the beneficiary of this mother’s Godly influence and prayer. I praise the Lord for the Godly influence of my mother. She was a woman shaped by God.

This morning I want to give a brief character sketches of four women in the Bible, two from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament. The women represent four different personality types and four different levels of Christian maturity. All four women were shaped by God.

I. Rahab – A Woman transformed by God’s love and Grace (Joshua 2)

We first learn about Rahab when Joshua sent two spies into Jericho to spy out the city. The two spies entered the city and went to the home of Rahab to stay for the night. Rahab was a prostitute and had extra rooms available.

The spies may have stayed there because they felt safe there. No officials would search that lodging place for spies.

Someone must have seen them enter Rahab’s home and told the king of Jericho spies had come to Jericho to find out the best way to attack the city. Rahab hid the men so when soldiers sent by the king came to the house Rahab said “Yes the men were here earlier but let the city just before the city gates closed.

Before the spies went to sleep Rahab went upon the roof to talk to the men she had hidden under stacks of flax. She evidently had listened to teaching on Israel’s history of being blessed of the Lord. She said, “I know the Lord has given you this land.” ‘For we have heard how the Lord made a dry path for you through the Red Sea when you left Egypt. And we know what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings east the Jordan River, whose people you completely destroyed. For the Lord your God is the supreme God of the heavens above the earth below.” Joshua 2:8-11

Rahab lived in an upscale part of Jericho. Her home was built next to the wall of the city, a wall wide enough to serve as a walkway or road.

Jericho was part of the Amorite kingdom, a depraved, pagan culture devoid of faith in the Lord God of creation.

In the midst of paganism Rahab a prostitute was searching for the true God. The encounter with the two spies was her spiritual wake-up call. She asked the two spies to spare her family when they conquered Jericho.