As women, we've been wired by God to be helpers, which means we've also been equipped with the power to influence--to suggest, guide, encourage, and offer the wisdom we've picked up along the way. Influencing can be one of the primary ways we practice helping, and we influence by means of our words. But by our words, we can also corrupt the call to help, to influence.
Consider Delilah from the book of Judges. This woman was employed by her countrymen to trick the Israelite judge Samson. She put to use all of her feminine wiles to convince Samson to reveal the secret of his great strength so that the Philistines might come in and overpower him. On three separate occasions, she said, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you” (16:6). Because Samson was infatuated with her, he believed she was playing some sort of lovers’ game, and he teased her with wrong answers time and again. Finally, when Delilah’s words failed to charm the secret from Samson, she nagged the truth from him, harrassing him verbally until he gave in from sheer frustration. The results were disastrous. Delilah epitomizes a woman's misuse of the female gift of influence.
A woman who used the gift for the good of others was Esther. In fact, she risked her life with it. She crafted a plan to win the king's favor so he would trust her when she exposed to him a plot to kill her and her fellow Jews. Esther saved the lives of many people, and she did it by means of her God-given ability to influence.
God didn't give us this gift so that we might gratify our selfish desires. He designed the gift be put to good use. Will we use our gift of influence for selfish gain like Delilah did? Or will we use it for the good of others, like Esther? We will face this choice every hour of every day.
Consider Delilah from the book of Judges. This woman was employed by her countrymen to trick the Israelite judge Samson. She put to use all of her feminine wiles to convince Samson to reveal the secret of his great strength so that the Philistines might come in and overpower him. On three separate occasions, she said, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you” (16:6). Because Samson was infatuated with her, he believed she was playing some sort of lovers’ game, and he teased her with wrong answers time and again. Finally, when Delilah’s words failed to charm the secret from Samson, she nagged the truth from him, harrassing him verbally until he gave in from sheer frustration. The results were disastrous. Delilah epitomizes a woman's misuse of the female gift of influence.
A woman who used the gift for the good of others was Esther. In fact, she risked her life with it. She crafted a plan to win the king's favor so he would trust her when she exposed to him a plot to kill her and her fellow Jews. Esther saved the lives of many people, and she did it by means of her God-given ability to influence.
God didn't give us this gift so that we might gratify our selfish desires. He designed the gift be put to good use. Will we use our gift of influence for selfish gain like Delilah did? Or will we use it for the good of others, like Esther? We will face this choice every hour of every day.
Labels: femininity
3 Comments:
I was immediately drawn into this post by your statement that women were wired by God to be helpers. This has been a thought in my mind over the last several months as I look for profitable ways to be that helper in the local body of believers. I've also been recently struck with the importance of using our influence as woman in order to encourage and exhort the men in our lives to reach their potential as Godly leaders, not by manipulating them or functioning as a "delilah" but focusing on being an "Esther". Thank you so much for this post.
What a great reminder of the gift God has given us men in godly women. Even when we understand God's intent for the different roles of men and women, we (I) sometimes fail to appreciate all that God has chosen women to do in the church and the home -- for us, with us, and in spite of us. What a blessing it is to have a godly woman's influence on us.
wonderful reminder, Lydia! thank you for delivering God's truth to us and reminding us how to honor Christ in our roles as women.
- Trisha Wilkerson
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