Hello followers and visitors to my blog! Recently, I have been pondering the influences that young girls and young women have been surrounded by, in the media. A few extremely "popular" females come to mind: Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, and many other young women that are having devastating effects on the younger female generation. All of these names that I just mentioned are known for their smart remarks to their parents, suggestive clothing, doing whatever they want, hanging out with their worldly "friends", having numerous boyfriends, and of course, being "famous". This goal of being famous is worth examining. One of my favorite passages in the whole bible is found in Proverbs 31, in fact I even use it as the verse for my e-mail signature. Proverbs 31:30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. Today, I looked up the definition of favor in the strong's exhaustive concordance, it translates as follows: grace, charm, elegance, and strangely enough, acceptance. How interesting. So, the bible clearly tells us that seeking after "acceptance" is deceitful. That's worth saying again! Wanting to be accepted or popular is deceitful! That is what these girls are chasing, acceptance and popularity. This powerful little passage in Proverbs 31, provides us with a very precious promise. It tells us that if anyone wants a guaranteed way of being praised, they can simply choose to fear the Lord. These girls have been deceived by the father of lies, the devil, to chase after "favour and beauty - which God clearly defines as vanity. These two lies are not new concepts for young women. Satan has been tricking young ladies to chase after these two things for 1,000's of years. One passage that is almost humorous, that brings this to light, is found in Isaiah 3:16-24. This passage describes what the prophet calls "The Haughty Daughters of Zion". In other words, the worldly girls of Israel. You will see that they were absolutely consumed with their outer beauty, which we saw above in Proverbs 31:30 is vain. The scary thing about this passage is to read about how upset God was with this batch of ladies. Read what the Lord does to this group of prideful gals...
Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet: Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts. In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, The rings, and nose jewels, The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails.
And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty. (Isaiah 3:16-24)
This passage makes me want to FEAR THE LORD. No wonder the Psalms speak of how important it is to learn "The judgments of the Lord". My dad really likes this passage in Psalm 19:9b-11 and suggested I post it for you all. The Judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. Unfortunately, 95% or more of the girls in this country have not studied these types of warnings and judgments in the bible. Because of this, they do not fear the Lord. It is easy to fear the Lord when you understand these passages, and the scary judgments that have fallen on generations that have acted as these, haughty daughters of Zion did.
So, after all this drama, what role models in the bible and in modern day times should we look at as good influences and examples of biblical purity and virtue? First, let's start with good examples from the bible. Rebekah and Abigail are two wonderful examples. There are many virtuous character traits that Rebekah had developed as a daughter in her father's house. Perhaps most notably was her cheerful servant attitude, here is the famous "let me water your camels also" passage in Genesis. We start with the prayer of Abraham's servant who had been sent to find a virtuous wife for his master's son, Isaac.
And he said, O LORD God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham. Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water: And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master. And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up. And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher. And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink. And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking. And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. And the man wondering at her held his peace, to wit whether the LORD had made his journey prosperous or not. (Genesis 24:12-21)
We look up to Rebekah as an example of how to cheerfully serve others, without grudging or complaining. We all have moments when we are given a task to do, we may not enjoy the task, but we should do it cheerfully and with a smile anyways. Rebekah obviously didn't learn this overnight. It takes time to develop a character trait like this. It was all the little decisions she made to cheerfully serve her family when she was 6, 12, 15 and 19 that crafted her into a cheerful servant of others. We should strive to do the same.
Abigail also had a humble servant's attitude. When her wicked husband Nabal, decided to turn away David and his mighty men, giving them nothing when they were hungry, Abigail went into action. If you would like to read a wonderful chapter of the bible for your devotions in the near future, I highly suggest that you read 1 Samuel chapter 25. It tells the whole story of Abigail, "who was a woman of good understanding and of a beautiful countenance". I am very honored that my father chose this name for me. It gives me a lot to strive after. Hopefully, someday I will be as the Abigail in the bible. Here is a small excerpt from this lovely chapter of the bible. And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, David sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife. And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord. (1 Samuel 25:40-41)
The stories of Rebekah and Abigail are inspiring examples to any girl that desires to be a cheerful servant and a godly young woman. Though this kind of gracious character is attainable, it is indeed very rare. Even Abraham's servant stood there "wondering" at Rebekah while she cheerfully watered his 10 camels. Just to put this into perspective, a single camel drinks up to 20 gallons of water, and she had to water ten! That's 160 pounds of water to carry per camel!! And she did this happily and without a single grumble in her heart. This is something we all should admire. Attitudes like this are just as rare in today's world.
I will leave you with these thoughts for now. Lord willing, my next post will be about modern day good examples that we can learn from. May God bless you and keep you and give you all cheerful servant hearts, in Jesus name, Amen.
God Bless,
Abigail Prudence
