Does God Esteem Men Higher than Women
Posted by Anonymous User
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Anonymous User
Does God Esteem Men Higher than Women July 14, 2007 12:28PM |
Moderator |
DOES GOD ESTEEM MEN HIGHER THAN WOMEN?
Last Saturday, 7/07/07, my husband and I volunteered to pray at the Evangelist Tent at the Jesus Fest that is held yearly in Vernon, CT. While there, a gentleman had sat down and I thought he was looking for prayer. It turns out that he had already been prayed for by the other team but he took up our offer for prayer as well, saying you can’t get enough prayer. It didn’t take long that this man was hurting deeply and into new age things. While raised as a Christian, life’s trials had made him question the things of the Bible. So called Christians did not embrace him and offer comfort to him after the passing of his wife and rather choose to be legalistic towards him, pointing out how he had not been coming to their church for awhile. Lord have mercy. Here he was needing the body of Christ and all that he found was the voices of Pharisees.
This man was honestly looking for truth. He had questions about the Bible that he was looking for answers to. He asked me "why is God called a ‘he’ and not a ‘she‘? Why did God look down on women and esteem men higher?" Praise be to God that He guides our step because the week before I was lead to watch a program with Ravi Zacharias answering questions at a college campus and one of the questions had to do with God’s opinion of women.. Brother Zacharias shared how Jesus esteemed women to highly that the first ones He revealed Himself to after His resurrection was to women. While the culture and society Jesus was born in did not give women equal rights as men, Jesus broke tradition and esteemed women highly. Possessing this knowledge I was able to offer it as an answer to this hurting man’s questions. But it didn’t feel like enough in my own heart as I lingered on the attitude of women in the Old Testament. Yes, there were women of acclaim in the Old Testament like Esther, Deborah and Ruth to name a few but there was no question that the male dominated the Old Testament. When I think of Lot offering his virgin daughters to the men of Sodom and of Jephthah offering his virgin daughter as a sacrifice to God, I too have questioned the reasoning behind it and wonder why women were so lowly valued at that time. Surely I am not the only female who has wondered this.
Then today, 7/14/07, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to God’s Word in a most profound and amazing way. Intending to read in 2 Peter this morning, I was led to Proverbs instead.
It doesn’t take long to see the importance of "wisdom":
Proverbs 1 (New American Standard Bible)
The Usefulness of Proverbs
1The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:
2To know wisdom and instruction,
To discern the sayings of understanding,
3To receive instruction in wise behavior,
Righteousness, justice and equity;
4To give prudence to the naive,
To the youth knowledge and discretion,
5A wise man will hear and increase in learning,
And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel,
6To understand a proverb and a figure,
The words of the wise and their riddles.
7The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
The Enticement of Sinners
8(Hear, my son, your father's instruction
And do not forsake your mother's teaching;
9Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head
And ornaments about your neck….
Wisdom Warns
20Wisdom shouts in the street,
She lifts her voice in the square;
21At the head of the noisy streets she cries out;
At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings:
22"How long, O naïve one, will you love being simple-minded?
And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing
And fools hate knowledge? …"
Hallelujah! The spirit of wisdom is feminine! Wisdom is a "she." What does God have to say about "her"? Let us see:
The Pursuit of Wisdom Brings Security
Proverbs 7
1My son, if you will receive my words
And treasure my commandments within you,
2(Make your ear attentive to wisdom,
Incline your heart to understanding;
3For if you cry for discernment,
Lift your voice for understanding;
4If you seek her as silver
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
5Then you will discern the fear of the LORD
And discover the knowledge of God.
6For the LORD gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
8Guarding the paths of justice,
And He preserves the way of His godly ones.
9Then you will discern righteousness and justice
And equity and every good course.
10For wisdom will enter your heart
And )knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
11Discretion will guard you,
Understanding will watch over you,
12To deliver you from the way of evil,…
There is no doubt that God highly esteems "her", "Wisdom." We are needful of "her" in our lives or else we will be like fools. As if that wasn’t a wonderful truth to read of in Scripture, being female myself, what I discovered next totally blew me away! How many times do we read Scripture yet don’t see all that is there? Well, this was one of those times for me. Through the Bible I knew that the Word was with God in the beginning (John 1:1-5), before the heavens and earth was created and that the Word became flesh. The Son of God, Christ Jesus, came on the earth to reveal our heavenly Father to us and restore us to fellowship with Him through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. What I didn’t know was who else was with God from the very beginning. Let us read Proverbs 8:10-31:
Proverbs 8:10-31
The Commendation of Wisdom
10"Take my instruction and not silver,
And knowledge rather than choicest gold.
11"For wisdom [she] is better than jewels.
And all desirable things cannot compare with her.
12"I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
and find out knowledge and discretion
13"The fear of the LORD is to hate evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverted mouth, I hate.
14. counsel is mine and sound wisdom;
I am understanding, power is mine.
15"By me kings reign,
And rulers decree justice.
16"By me princes rule, and nobles,
All who judge rightly.
17"I love those who love me;
And those who diligently seek me will find me.
18"Riches and honor are with me,
Enduring wealth and righteousness.
19"My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold,
And my yield better than choicest silver.
20"I walk in the way of righteousness,
In the midst of the paths of justice,
21To endow those who love me with wealth,
That I may fill their treasuries.
22"The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way,
Before His works of old.
23"From everlasting I was established,
From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth.
24"When there were no depths I was brought forth,
When there were no springs abounding with water.
25"Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills I was brought forth;
26While He had not yet made the earth and the fields,
Nor the first dust of the world.
27"When He established the heavens, I was there,
When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,
28When He made firm the skies above,
When the springs of the deep became fixed,
29When He set for the sea its boundary
So that the water would not transgress His command,
When He marked out the foundations of the earth;
30Then I was beside Him, as a master workman;
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always before Him,
31Rejoicing in the world, His earth,
And having my delight in the sons of men.[/[/u]i]
Whoa! This chapter of Proverbs is talking about "Wisdom"! She was with God in the beginning, just like Jesus! God’s Word shows how much He esteems "her!" I believe God is opening our eyes in this day to the value of women and the call He has placed upon her life. Wisdom is of God and she is given a female gender. Could this be symbolic of the Bride or Christ? Like the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31 are we not called to be like her as the Bride of our Beloved Jesus? Proverbs 31: 26 reads" She opens her mouth with wisdom and on her tongue is the law of kindness." Glory to God! God does not esteem men more than women. He has called them as partakers of His kingdom, each with their allotted jobs. Jesus showed how highly He esteemed the women of His day, not looking down on them but lifting them up. While today’s society might try to tell us other wise, let us look at God’s Word and see what He has to say about her: "Say to wisdom, "You are my sister…Proverbs 7:4a).
Woman, thou art loosened. Walk forth in the fullness of Your calling in Christ Jesus!!! Glory to God in the Highest!!!
Rejoicing in Him,
Joan
Last Saturday, 7/07/07, my husband and I volunteered to pray at the Evangelist Tent at the Jesus Fest that is held yearly in Vernon, CT. While there, a gentleman had sat down and I thought he was looking for prayer. It turns out that he had already been prayed for by the other team but he took up our offer for prayer as well, saying you can’t get enough prayer. It didn’t take long that this man was hurting deeply and into new age things. While raised as a Christian, life’s trials had made him question the things of the Bible. So called Christians did not embrace him and offer comfort to him after the passing of his wife and rather choose to be legalistic towards him, pointing out how he had not been coming to their church for awhile. Lord have mercy. Here he was needing the body of Christ and all that he found was the voices of Pharisees.
This man was honestly looking for truth. He had questions about the Bible that he was looking for answers to. He asked me "why is God called a ‘he’ and not a ‘she‘? Why did God look down on women and esteem men higher?" Praise be to God that He guides our step because the week before I was lead to watch a program with Ravi Zacharias answering questions at a college campus and one of the questions had to do with God’s opinion of women.. Brother Zacharias shared how Jesus esteemed women to highly that the first ones He revealed Himself to after His resurrection was to women. While the culture and society Jesus was born in did not give women equal rights as men, Jesus broke tradition and esteemed women highly. Possessing this knowledge I was able to offer it as an answer to this hurting man’s questions. But it didn’t feel like enough in my own heart as I lingered on the attitude of women in the Old Testament. Yes, there were women of acclaim in the Old Testament like Esther, Deborah and Ruth to name a few but there was no question that the male dominated the Old Testament. When I think of Lot offering his virgin daughters to the men of Sodom and of Jephthah offering his virgin daughter as a sacrifice to God, I too have questioned the reasoning behind it and wonder why women were so lowly valued at that time. Surely I am not the only female who has wondered this.
Then today, 7/14/07, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to God’s Word in a most profound and amazing way. Intending to read in 2 Peter this morning, I was led to Proverbs instead.
It doesn’t take long to see the importance of "wisdom":
Proverbs 1 (New American Standard Bible)
The Usefulness of Proverbs
1The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:
2To know wisdom and instruction,
To discern the sayings of understanding,
3To receive instruction in wise behavior,
Righteousness, justice and equity;
4To give prudence to the naive,
To the youth knowledge and discretion,
5A wise man will hear and increase in learning,
And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel,
6To understand a proverb and a figure,
The words of the wise and their riddles.
7The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
The Enticement of Sinners
8(Hear, my son, your father's instruction
And do not forsake your mother's teaching;
9Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head
And ornaments about your neck….
Wisdom Warns
20Wisdom shouts in the street,
She lifts her voice in the square;
21At the head of the noisy streets she cries out;
At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings:
22"How long, O naïve one, will you love being simple-minded?
And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing
And fools hate knowledge? …"
Hallelujah! The spirit of wisdom is feminine! Wisdom is a "she." What does God have to say about "her"? Let us see:
The Pursuit of Wisdom Brings Security
Proverbs 7
1My son, if you will receive my words
And treasure my commandments within you,
2(Make your ear attentive to wisdom,
Incline your heart to understanding;
3For if you cry for discernment,
Lift your voice for understanding;
4If you seek her as silver
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
5Then you will discern the fear of the LORD
And discover the knowledge of God.
6For the LORD gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
8Guarding the paths of justice,
And He preserves the way of His godly ones.
9Then you will discern righteousness and justice
And equity and every good course.
10For wisdom will enter your heart
And )knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
11Discretion will guard you,
Understanding will watch over you,
12To deliver you from the way of evil,…
There is no doubt that God highly esteems "her", "Wisdom." We are needful of "her" in our lives or else we will be like fools. As if that wasn’t a wonderful truth to read of in Scripture, being female myself, what I discovered next totally blew me away! How many times do we read Scripture yet don’t see all that is there? Well, this was one of those times for me. Through the Bible I knew that the Word was with God in the beginning (John 1:1-5), before the heavens and earth was created and that the Word became flesh. The Son of God, Christ Jesus, came on the earth to reveal our heavenly Father to us and restore us to fellowship with Him through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. What I didn’t know was who else was with God from the very beginning. Let us read Proverbs 8:10-31:
Proverbs 8:10-31
The Commendation of Wisdom
10"Take my instruction and not silver,
And knowledge rather than choicest gold.
11"For wisdom [she] is better than jewels.
And all desirable things cannot compare with her.
12"I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
and find out knowledge and discretion
13"The fear of the LORD is to hate evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverted mouth, I hate.
14. counsel is mine and sound wisdom;
I am understanding, power is mine.
15"By me kings reign,
And rulers decree justice.
16"By me princes rule, and nobles,
All who judge rightly.
17"I love those who love me;
And those who diligently seek me will find me.
18"Riches and honor are with me,
Enduring wealth and righteousness.
19"My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold,
And my yield better than choicest silver.
20"I walk in the way of righteousness,
In the midst of the paths of justice,
21To endow those who love me with wealth,
That I may fill their treasuries.
22"The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way,
Before His works of old.
23"From everlasting I was established,
From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth.
24"When there were no depths I was brought forth,
When there were no springs abounding with water.
25"Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills I was brought forth;
26While He had not yet made the earth and the fields,
Nor the first dust of the world.
27"When He established the heavens, I was there,
When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,
28When He made firm the skies above,
When the springs of the deep became fixed,
29When He set for the sea its boundary
So that the water would not transgress His command,
When He marked out the foundations of the earth;
30Then I was beside Him, as a master workman;
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always before Him,
31Rejoicing in the world, His earth,
And having my delight in the sons of men.[/[/u]i]
Whoa! This chapter of Proverbs is talking about "Wisdom"! She was with God in the beginning, just like Jesus! God’s Word shows how much He esteems "her!" I believe God is opening our eyes in this day to the value of women and the call He has placed upon her life. Wisdom is of God and she is given a female gender. Could this be symbolic of the Bride or Christ? Like the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31 are we not called to be like her as the Bride of our Beloved Jesus? Proverbs 31: 26 reads" She opens her mouth with wisdom and on her tongue is the law of kindness." Glory to God! God does not esteem men more than women. He has called them as partakers of His kingdom, each with their allotted jobs. Jesus showed how highly He esteemed the women of His day, not looking down on them but lifting them up. While today’s society might try to tell us other wise, let us look at God’s Word and see what He has to say about her: "Say to wisdom, "You are my sister…Proverbs 7:4a).
Woman, thou art loosened. Walk forth in the fullness of Your calling in Christ Jesus!!! Glory to God in the Highest!!!
Rejoicing in Him,
Joan
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Anonymous User
Re: Does God Esteem Men Higher than Women July 30, 2007 09:06PM |
I hope that I can say this right: man and woman are a part of God, they both come from Him. Yes, woman came from man's side/flesh, but yet, that should show that man and woman are one [of one kind: man-kind]. As men and women we show forth God, and we are to be working together. But because of the fall of man, Adam blamed his wife, and I believe that this lie went down through the ages because it was something that he held on to and confessed to others who got a hold of this thus causing women to be looked down upon. It has been a very hard life for women down through the ages; the ever-supressing down of women just because of their gender.
And just as you've pointed out, wisdom is referred to as 'she'. It is the wisdom of God. God is not called a she because the male is representative of authority: God is the head of Christ, Christ is the head of the husband, and the husband is the head of the wife. It does not make anyone less than, just as Christ is not less than God. It is the fallen state of man that chooses the lowering [or supressing] of another because of 'dominion' over another [or ruling over another].....that is sinful. Man feels bad about himself, so he wants to rule over another to make himself feel good. It's sin.
Yes, it is sad to see the state of the church who have lost their compassion. Shame of them. And yes, there is shame. That's sad.
But we who are in Christ must put on His love each day so that we do not fail/fall. May the world/lost see the love of Christ within us who believe; and may the lost within the church see God's true love and have mercy.
God bless you, Joan.
And just as you've pointed out, wisdom is referred to as 'she'. It is the wisdom of God. God is not called a she because the male is representative of authority: God is the head of Christ, Christ is the head of the husband, and the husband is the head of the wife. It does not make anyone less than, just as Christ is not less than God. It is the fallen state of man that chooses the lowering [or supressing] of another because of 'dominion' over another [or ruling over another].....that is sinful. Man feels bad about himself, so he wants to rule over another to make himself feel good. It's sin.
Yes, it is sad to see the state of the church who have lost their compassion. Shame of them. And yes, there is shame. That's sad.
But we who are in Christ must put on His love each day so that we do not fail/fall. May the world/lost see the love of Christ within us who believe; and may the lost within the church see God's true love and have mercy.
God bless you, Joan.
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Anonymous User
Re: Does God Esteem Men Higher than Women August 03, 2007 06:27PM |
Moderator |
Dear Ilene,
I pray for the eyes of understanding to come to the body of Christ, and quickly. We are one body, neither male or female but one in Christ Jesus. Though we have genders in the natural we are not to live our lives focused on the natural but to the spiritual realm and kingdom of God that we have been born again to. Hallelujah!
May the love of God flow from the pores of His people unto all who come into their contact. Whether we be man or woman, let us not esteem ourselves more highly than we ought. Let us set our eyes upon Jesus and endeavor to follow after Him by the leading of the Holy Spirit to the glory and honor of our heavenly Father. Let it be so, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
God bless you too, sis.
Love ya!
I pray for the eyes of understanding to come to the body of Christ, and quickly. We are one body, neither male or female but one in Christ Jesus. Though we have genders in the natural we are not to live our lives focused on the natural but to the spiritual realm and kingdom of God that we have been born again to. Hallelujah!
May the love of God flow from the pores of His people unto all who come into their contact. Whether we be man or woman, let us not esteem ourselves more highly than we ought. Let us set our eyes upon Jesus and endeavor to follow after Him by the leading of the Holy Spirit to the glory and honor of our heavenly Father. Let it be so, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
God bless you too, sis.
Love ya!
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