One day, you wake up and you realize you have it: your new super power.
You speak, and they listen. You smile, and they nod their heads. You caress, and they can’t think anymore. You speak in that tone of voice, and they fight to do your biding. Now, you’re truly a daughter of Eve. Just give the fruit to him, and he’ll take a bite; he won’t even remember what God did not perhaps, possibly… exactly say. I bet you know what I’m talking about. Wink. Wink.
Here’s a list of women from the Bible who discovered their secret super power and used it how they pleased: Zeresh, Haman’s wife; Jezebel, Ahab’s wife; Mother Eve, Adam’s wife; Sarah, Abraham’s wife; Delilah, Samson’s girlfriend, and more.
If you recognize any name from this list, you may also know their stories. But I’ll give you a summary of each. Spoiler alert: it didn’t end well for them.
Zeresh, Haman’s wife massaged his frail ego constantly, telling him to make plans to ensure the destruction of an innocent man. Well, that backfired, and Haman died in his place along with Zeresh, by the way.
Jezebel. Her name is now used to describe “a wicked, shameless woman.” Jezebel led her husband, the king, to abandon God’s law and worship a wicked god, called Baal. She killed God’s prophets, and also got her husband a gift he’d wanted so badly, by getting an innocent man stoned to death. She died. And dogs ate her body, real quick.
Eve gave Adam the “apple”, and we’re all here today, living a fallen existence. Thanks but no thanks mother Eve.
Sarah convinced her husband to sleep with her maid. It seemed God was taking too long in delivering His promise of a child. Then she gets upset at the whole thing. Thirteen years later, she has the son of that union kicked out.
And last but not the least, Delilah. She tricked her boyfriend Samson into losing his power and becoming a prisoner of his worst enemies. And she did it for a bucket load of silver. Samson also lost his eyes in the process.
There you have it.
I believe God gave women power. It’s a good thing. We should embrace it as a gift, but a gift that comes with responsibility. In our world today, we are made to think that seeking and having power over others for our own benefit is a smart thing. But nay, it is not. It’s a selfish thing, and it’s a dangerous thing.
God gave you the power to build up, to encourage, to give wise counsel, and to lead from whatever position you find yourself. In a marriage, in a business setting, in government, in your home, at your school, wherever. You have the power to change things for the better. You have the power to be the voice of reason where egos clash. Kings can seek you out for the counsel that God has given you. Take for example, my new favorite girl, Hulda the Prophetess. King Josiah sought her out when he needed to know what to do about the book of the law that had just been rediscovered, and she had words straight from God both as caution and as encouragement to the king.
The power you have is not a power to be overestimated either. You’re just a vessel and nothing more than a vessel of God’s power, and love, and good gifts. Anything else is from the devil. Yes I said devil. Don’t embrace your inner anything, but embrace God and humbly embrace His calling and purpose in and through you.
When you realize the truth about who God is, and the power He has given you, you’ll also realize that you’re not what Eve wanted to be. You’re not God, and you don’t have all control, as much as you’d love to. As much as I’d love to.
But it’s tempting. It’ tempting to use your power to have your way; to use your words, and to use our body to, as they say, “get what you want”. You know all the right buttons to push and you know the weaknesses to exploit. It’s not a safe place to be. You risk falling when you try to push someone else off a cliff. Don’t fall for the lies for they are many, and very convincing, because the truth is harder to swallow than having your own way.
I believe in you, and most importantly, God believes in you. He is a loving Father that gives good gifts to His children, and He has given you many good gifts. Don’t let anyone sell you short-by overselling or underselling.
I pray for you that you’ll choose to submit to God and trust Him with your heart desires, rather than try to make your own way. And I pray that you’ll use your God given gifts to build up and to make whole, but not to bring down. May the Lord keep all that you’ve entrusted to Him. In Jesus Name.
