I think Esther was humble, fearful, and surrendered when she came to the King in requests. It's a beautiful picture of how us women should come to the Lord...our great and mighty KING. As women in the Lord, we need to be reminded of how the Lord views us. He views us as His royalty. We are found spotless, beautiful, honorable, and precious in the sight of our God...it's a humbling thought, but it's something we need to remember as we go on in our daily lives. It's a comfort to know that the God of this universe loves us so much that He finds us beautiful, regardless of our emotions...but it's so much more than physical appearance, girls. So so so much more. I love Song of Solomon 4:7, "You are all fair my love, and there is no spot in you." So many times the Lord whispered these sweet words to me when I was feeling insecure, totally targeted by Satan, and drowning in spiritual warfare. It's heavy...and Satan loves to hit us women with the hurtful words such as "You're just not thin enough STILL...." or "You need to be tanner, taller, more makeup...." The lies of Satan are never ending sometimes...but God views our physical bodies, not only as beautiful, but He also reminds us that we are but a VAPOR...we will not be in these tents forever, so why focus and obsess over our appearances? I agree that women should be healthy, active, and work out. In Proverbs 31 it says in verse 17, "She girds herself with STRENGTH, and STRENGTHENS her arms." The virtuous woman gives us such beautiful characteristics we should be praying for. Yet it is clear that she, too, strengthens herself for her physical health, and for the better of her household. She wants to maintain the work the Lord had given her with the best of her abilities.
Working out isn't wrong, but it is how you look at your physical appearance that is. The main thing that I want to focus on in regards to royalty is how we should act as daughters of the King. One of my favorite Psalms in scripture is Psalm 45. It gives me the most beautiful representation of how daughters in the Lord should be. It says in Psalm 45:13, "The royal daughter is all glorious within the palace; Her clothing is woven with gold." Wow.. can you picture that for a moment? Imagine you, standing before our Almighty King. What would you say? Do? Think? When I think of royalty I look at those who are considered royalty in today's standards. We have the First Lady, the Princesses and Queens around the world. How do they act? Or, how SHOULD they act? They dress modestly, restrain their lips as much as they can, present themselves to the public in a very appropriate, chaste, moral way. Now, I'm not sure what they do in their hearts, or in public...but that's why as daughters of the King, it is so important that our actions weigh out from our hearts.
Ladies, our hearts, our motives, intents, desires, thoughts, actions, every little thing should be glorifying to God. Everything we do or think or say should be as if we ARE considered royalty...and you know what? We are. In GOD's eyes. That's enough, isn't it? The one main verse that always hits home with me is Psalm 45:10-11. It says,
"Listen, O daughter, consider and incline your ear, forget your own people also, and your father's house; So the King will greatly desire your beauty; Because He is your LORD, worship Him."
This verse is so precious to me. It reminds me that in order to truly live a life of sacrifice and worship unto the Lord, I must be willing to let go of all I hold dear, and cling to Christ. It says that I must listen and incline my ear to Him. How often do you seek the Lord on a daily basis? If there's one thing I can take away from this semester, it's the truth that honestly, I have never fallen more passionately, crazy, madly, infinitely in love with Jesus... EVER before. His Word is all I want to saturate in, prayer is all I want to be spending time in, studying His scriptures is all I want to do with the hours I'm given... I can't get enough. His word is so dang powerful! It gives LIFE. I have come to realize that just by inclining my ear to Him, listening to Him, and sitting quietly at His feet, I glean so so so much! I learn, and keep learning, and am not able to get enough. It's passionate...and it's absolutely stunning. There's nothing else I'd rather be doing.
It goes on to say in this verse that I'm to forget my own people and even my father's house. When I left home to go to Bible College, I had to learn (and am still learning) that I must forsake my family for a time. I'm 2,000 miles away from everyone that is super dear to me, but sometimes to walk in the life of pilgrimage we need to forsake all that is so close to us. I love that scripture in Psalm 84 where it talks of having our hearts set on pilgrimage. Our hearts need to be constantly disciplined to know that we should have an ETERNAL mindset, not one where we keep our eyes on the worldly things. It's hard to do...but our peace and hope comes from Jesus...who is above, not on anything this world has to offer.
I just love verse 11. The King greatly desires your beauty. Did you hear that? The King...Jesus...He desires YOUR beauty. Bet you didn't think anyone could want to desire your beauty, yeah? I know for me, I go through those phases of thinking, "Who would want that?" Yet here, it's clear that God not only SEES me as beautiful outwardly, He desires it all! Meaning...I must be a living sacrifice unto Him. Holy, acceptable, walking in paths of righteousness and uprightness. It's even something as simple as getting ready in the morning. Am I spending three hours in front of the mirror? If that's the case, I need to re-check my motives.
I'm constantly having to ask myself, "Angela, is this an eternal issue?" "Will the Lord be so concerned if I'm having a bad hair day, or I need a tan, or my eyebrows waxed?" I mean.... think about it! Those are NOT eternal issues! Now...dressing modestly, that is an eternal issue. But I'm just simply talking about preparing yourself for the day. Instead of standing there thinking who you can impress, stand there preparing yourself to go before JESUS. Be prepared for Him, no one else! Because ultimately, that is where He desires you to be. He desires your beauty INWARDLY just as much as OUTWARDLY. Glorify Him in them both! Physical appearance, heart, thoughts, motives, intents, desires, hopes...all these things... from what you put on your face to what shirt you wear, to what pants you wear, and even what SHOES you wear....you have this crazy ability to either destroy your brothers in Christ, or help them. You have the ability to honor the Lord in your dress, or you can grieve the Spirit because of your short, tight skirt. It's awful. I know I am still learning what are good and not so good clothing choices. Sometimes I look at pictures and I'm just like, "Wow, did I really wear that?" haha it makes me chuckle...but as women, we have a huge power to stumble or edify. Let's choose those things which bear fruit in peoples' lives, not sin.
The last part of verse 11 says that because He is your LORD, worship Him. There it is. Worship Him. I keep picturing a woman coming at the feet of Jesus, dressed in royal apparel, who forsook all she had in order to follow Him in worship, and her life is a living breathing testimony of that sacrificial worship. Worship isn't, and shouldn't be just something we do for 30 minutes before a church service. It should be a daily thing. We should worship Him with our dress, our countenance, our hearts desires, our motives, our intents, our hopes, the way we act, the way we walk, the way we approach our sisters and brothers, the leadership in our lives, the small and big tasks the Lord gives us.... every single thing is worship unto the Lord. And that's how we should view it. Our lives should be sacrificial every single day.
I'm learning, that if I don't wake up every morning and pray for a self-denial, a humility in my heart, then there is no way I can serve the people in my life willingly. We have the responsibility to die to self every single day. There is no way we can approach people, serve the Lord, worship Him, study His word...or do ANYTHING if we do not die to self first. It's a daily thing, sometimes, it's an hour by hour thing. Yet I know that it's absolutely necessary to be effective in any ministry or anything the Lord gives you.
As a woman in the Lord, I am encouraged by this Psalm, because I know that in the eyes of the Lord I AM beautiful, and I am royalty to Him. Do I act in such a way? No. I know that I have so much improving to do. If I sat down at the end of the day and wrote down the things I said, thought, acted upon, and ect ect... it would so not be fitting for a Queen or a Princess. Yet, we have a high calling, ladies.
I've said this thousands of times, but God keeps putting it on my heart. We are called to a higher, much more precious calling than the world. As women in the Lord, handmaidens of Christ, princesses and queens.. we are called to something so much better. We should be praying that we would adorn ourselves daily with holiness, righteousness, uprightness, faithfulness, and pure devotion. I love those words: pure devotion.
A woman whose heart is purely devoted to the Lord shows in and through her. I know so many wonderful, virtuous women who are purely devoted to Christ. Nothing stands in their way, and they only desire more of Him, and less of themselves. It's such a precious beautiful thing. They are pure in their motives. The word pure in the dictionary literally means spotless, and stainless. The word devotion means to be set apart for a special and often times higher end. So, as women in the Lord, we have a beautiful calling to be purely devoted to Him. Spotless, stainless, set apart for a special and higher calling.
I am daily convicted of this. My prayer continues to be, that the Lord would continue to make me a woman after His own heart. That I would continue to desire the deep things of God. To know Him more intimately and to make Him known. To seek Him minute by minute, saturating myself in His word and in prayer. I just love Psalm 45. I love that God views me as royalty. That He sees me as a beautiful woman. More than that, I am humbled and so in awe that He desires my beauty, my worship, my all in all. I am saddened at my own stupidity sometimes. God desires me, yet what do I spend my time doing? Who do I spend my time with most? God desires the most of my attention, all of my heart, and the utmost thoughts in my mind. He desires so much. He sent His Son to die for me. He paid the ULTIMATE price...shouldn't He get everything He paid for?
I am so convicted of that. The Lord keeps breaking me down. He keeps revealing my ugly sin to me. He keeps growing me, chastening me, and revealing new things. It's so dang beautiful. I couldn't be more happy. I yearn to be the women He has called me to be until He takes me home. I yearn to glean from the wonderful examples in scripture...Mary, Elizabeth, Abigail, the virtuous woman, Ruth and Esther....these women are great examples of how women in Christ should be.
I encourage you with these things. The Lord loves you. He desires you. He views you as beautiful, but He also requires and desires all of your worship. It may require you to forsake your family, friends, desires, intentions, or your everything...but the cost of discipleship is high. Shouldn't we be willing to go to such great lengths to love Him and worship Him? He died for us. Praying that we would continue to seek the Lord daily. That we would desire to be women after His own heart. Nothing else in this life can suffice, nothing else can bring abundant life, joy and peace. Only Jesus.
Let's remember the reason for our existence. Let's be reminded that as women, we have such a high calling. May we continue to grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord.
"Listen, O daughter, consider and incline your ear; Forget your own people also, and your father's house; So the King will greatly desire your beauty, because He is your LORD, worship Him." ~ Psalm 45:10-11
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