The CBE Scroll

Comment by MA

July 14, 2010 @ 1:43 pm

Excellent thoughts and encouragement. I enjoyed reading that very much.

Comment by Deborah

July 16, 2010 @ 3:56 pm

I’d forgotten about those daughters of Shallum–thanks for the reminder!

Comment by Paula

July 17, 2010 @ 7:47 pm

Those who were involved in the work of repairing the walls of Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s day labored while watching and praying until finally the work was complete.

Some four centuries later, within those same walls, labored a woman night and day who came to see what she had been believing for.

It’s exciting to think that we can be involved in building His Church, the city set on a hill that cannot be hidden, the bride of Christ who will someday be ready to receive her King.

Comment by Christensen

July 17, 2010 @ 10:15 pm

Hmmm… I struggle with this because I can hear my brother pointing to this and getting something out of it. Once, he and I were talking about our views of women participating in the work of God. I believe that women are gifted equally as men, which means that the role of prophet, pastor, judge, and so forth are not restricted to gender. I think most of those reading this would agree.

Yet, my brother pointed out that Deborah, who was the only female judge, became so because no other men stood up to do their “duty”. For my brother, this means that the men around her failed in their duty as men. So, he views it not as a story of a woman taking hold of her abilities and stepping up to the plate but as a sad story of how a weak woman had to fulfill a role because no man would.

Of course, I read this story differently (and the story of Deborah). I read it as FINALLY women are stepping up to the plate in a society where women were not valued. FINALLY, women do not view certain work as “man’s work” but as something that they should share in. FINALLY, women are not seeing equality as letting men do their “manly” work as long as they can be free to do what is enjoyable and doesn’t involve using muscles.

So, I don’t think women should look to men and say – “can you do this for me?” And then do the work of God because the men do not take on their “role”. But that women view all work as something they can participate in – especially when given to God in worship.

Hmmm…I say this with my fiancee sitting next to me and knowing that her culture thinks I’m stepping way out of the bounds of “manliness” by actually washing the dishes after she has cooked a meal (and I offer to help her even with cooking). Being in Korea, I’m considered “effeminate” just because I step up to do “womanly” work. So, I think culture does play a huge part in even how men and women of God react to situations. Hmmm…

Just thoughts on this :)

Comment by Paula

July 18, 2010 @ 6:18 am

So, I think culture does play a huge part in even how men and women of God react to situations.

Christensen mentioned Deborah the Judge, and how some people assume she fulfilled the task of rescuing and delivering the Israelites in the same spirit as the Little Red Hen – that is, since no one else would do the work, then she would.

Certainly the story of Deborah stands out in Scripture as one of success against all odds. Everything about the time and culture she lived in was against her serving as the leader of the nation, yet she did. Despite the fact her army was vastly outnumbered, they won. She didn’t allow the circumstances to interfere with her belief in God because of her faith.

We see Deborah exercising the same saving faith that we normally think of in a David defeating Goliath or in a Moses, leading others into a promised land. To assume she was unnaturally given the ability of a man to do a man’s job strips her of her faith and discredits God for resorting to secondhand goods to accomplish His will.

No, Deborah is a true helper in the sense of being one who rescues others in situations of need, rather than being a domestic or a subordinate, as many like to define the word “helper” to mean.

This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 1 Jn 1:5