The Precious Heart of a Godly Woman
Our God holds His daughters near and dear to His heart. He created women to be more emotional beings than He did their counterpart (men) for a reason. Women are often criticized for being too emotional and disregarded and/or treated poorly due to a man’s lack of understanding and appreciation of the beneficial aspect of why God created women this way. I am guilty of having misunderstood as well as not fully appreciating the way God created women to be in my past and I am sure I will fail at this again but our Father’s Word and His Spirit continues to give us all a new and better perspective if we will allow Him. We all need to learn to see things the way God sees them and not how we see them. May we all learn to do this more and more with every passing day of our walk with the Lord. May it be so!
We all can mishandle the characteristics & giftings given to us by God especially when we are not being led specifically by His Spirit and His Word but God made men and women to be different and special in their own ways for a reason and a purpose. In this message, I want to share what I believe is revealed in the Scriptures as the precious heart of the daughters of God and their astounding acts of love and faith as can be seen in just the Gospel of Mark alone! I believe this is due to a dedicated loving heart of a woman who has inclined and submitted her emotions and life to the Lord out of faith and full reliance on Him. It is in these acts of faith in and submittance to God’s Word that the gift and beauty of women’s emotions amazingly shine His glorious light! A beauty that a man of God adores.
We read in Mark 5:21-43, “21 And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about Him, and he was beside the sea. 22 Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing Him, he fell at His feet 23 and implored him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” 24 And He went with him.
And a great crowd followed Him and thronged about Him. 25 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, 26 and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. 28 For she said, “If I touch even His garments, I will be made well.” 29 And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 And Jesus, perceiving in Himself that power had gone out from Him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” 31 And his disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 And He looked around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. 34 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
35 While He was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” 36 But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” 37 And He allowed no one to follow Him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. 38 They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 And when He had entered, He said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” 40 And they laughed at Him. But He put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with Him and went in where the child was. 41 Taking her by the hand He said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” 42 And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. 43 And He strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.”
We see 2 different accounts happening here, the first is the woman with the flow of blood for 12 years who had sought for help and healing from doctors, spending all she had on those doctors only to get worse and would most likely die from this issue if not healed. Think about being in her place and what she must have gone through and what she must have been feeling. She had nothing left, not even her health and she was continuing to get worse and was possibly suffering in pain and even if she was not in physical pain she was at least dealing with emotional and mental hopelessness. No one was with her and the account makes no mention of whether or not she is married and there is no mention of a husband but I believe we are given a clue when it says in verse 26 that “she” had spent all that “she” had. Have you ever known someone closely that had/has a serious illness for many years? If so, one of the things they deal with is people pulling away from them as the situation is to “depressing” for most or people may think they are not really sick but faking it for attention or they feel guilty because they are not financially helping that person to get help because they are selfish so they stay away from a sick person to avoid feeling bad about themselves. I may be digging deep but I don’t think what I am seeing in this account is unrealistic especially for those that have been through or are going through similar circumstances as this woman did.
What led this woman to seek out Yeshua? Was it only because she heard that He performed miracles and thought she had nothing to lose anyways?
I don’t believe this is the case at all, this woman knew enough of the Scriptures to know to take hold of the corner of His garment to receive healing! Where is that found in the Scriptures? We read in Malachi 4:2, “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and you shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.” This verse was understood by the Jewish people at that time to be about the coming Messiah and clearly this woman was familiar with this verse meaning she had faith in God’s Word and acted on that faith! The word “wings” in Malachi 4:2 could also be translated as “corners“, as in the corners of His garment! This woman knew enough of the Word of God to act upon it because she believed that Yeshua was that promised Messiah that had healing power in His wings or the corners of His garment! The heart condition that this woman came to Yeshua with is the kind of heart that is truly humble, broken, and that cries out for the only One that can comfort, heal and fill it with hope, peace, love and joy. This is the beginning of a true servant of Yeshua (Jesus) that will follow after Him with their whole heart and become a beautiful daughter of God that will shine His truth, His light brightly. The greatest acts of God’s truth is love.
*Side note: being that the Messiah never sinned and walked in law of God perfectly He obeyed the commandment given in Numbers 15:37-41 which instructs God’s covenant people to wear tassels on the 4 “corners” of their garments to remind them of God’s commandments so that they do not forget and to be set-apart to God. I believe this woman took hold of one of those tassels that would’ve been tied to each corner of Yeshua’s garment! True healing begins when we believe what is written in His Word and act upon it, this is what the Bible calls faith. This poor woman knew enough of God’s Word to recognize that the character (words & actions) of Yeshua revealed that He was the promised Messiah and she literally took hold of God’s Word and was healed but more importantly she received eternal life because of her faith. By taking hold of the corner of His garment she also proclaimed to all around that she believed He was the promised Messiah!
This brings to mind the verses of Scripture found in 1 Timothy 6:6-12, which says “6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. 11 But as for you, O man (O woman) of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
I believe this woman never gave up and fought the good fight of the faith by having taken hold of eternal life (Yeshua) and went away from her encounter content even though she had nothing in terms of physical riches. She walked away with the greatest blessing of all, belonging to the Bridegroom as His bride feeling whole and full of peace and joy!
We also see the 2nd account of a 12 year old girl whose parents (father) sought for Yeshua to heal her and save her from death. The parents of this young girl had such faith to believe that only Yeshua (Jesus) could save her that the father went to bring Him back to his house so that Yeshua could lay His hands upon his daughter. Why didn’t the mother of the young girl go instead or go with the father to bring back Yeshua?
If you are a mother would you leave your daughter’s side if she was close to death or would you plead for your husband to hurry and bring Yeshua back? I don’t believe I need to answer this question.
Yeshua told the parents to give their 12 year old daughter something to eat after He had raised her from the dead and healed her. I see a spiritual meaning here, whenever someone is brought into life from the land of the dead (new believers) they need spiritual bread in order to stay healthy meaning they need to be in the Word of God being fed right away to guard them from falling prey to illness again!
If you have been following the messages shared on this website then you will know that numbers in the Bible are very important because they have prophetic meanings. We can see that the number 12 is being given in both accounts of the 2 females that are healed and 1 which was brought back to life by Yeshua (Jesus). I am not going to go to deep in the meaning of the number 12 in the Bible but I will say it is connected to being a woman, or a bride if you will. Whenever God’s covenant people are being referred to as a whole they are described as the 12 tribes of Israel. All throughout the Bible God refers to His covenant people as a whole as a woman and as His bride. The words “assemblies”, “churches” and “synagogues” in Scripture are also referred to as women when being referred to as the collective whole.
We read in Mark 7:24-30, “24 And from there He arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet He could not be hidden. 25 But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of Him and came and fell down at His feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 And He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered Him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 And He said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.”
I remember when I first read this section of Scripture, the first thought I had was “that was cold, to refer to that woman and her daughter as dogs!”. It wasn’t until later that I realized that Yeshua was revealing to her that He had come only for the Lost Sheep (children) of the house of Israel and anyone that was not part of the “children” of Israel (God’s people) were symbolically & spiritually referred to as either dogs or swine. Swine being the gentiles (unbelievers) that despised the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the dogs were the gentiles (unbelievers) that were indifferent to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. If you notice this woman did not take offense but clearly understood what Yeshua was telling her by her response in return when she said to Him “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs”. This woman had such great faith and humility that she was acknowledging to Yeshua that she was not worthy and was only asking for the crumbs believing that even the smallest bit of bread (referring to His words) from Him would be enough to free her daughter from demonic possession. This is a heart of repentance asking for and receiving the Bread of Life (Yeshua) because of her great faith!
We see this spiritual picture even more clearly in the Matthew 15:22-28 account of this same story. In verse 28 (of Matthew chap.15) Yeshua responds to this woman’s worship and faith with the exclamation “O woman, great is your faith!”. (He was astounded!)
I believe this exchange was a foreshadow of what was to come for the rest of the gentiles of the world if they would also ask Yeshua into their homes (their bodies) with this same heart! I also believe just as a dog attaches itself to a family this woman was revealing to Yeshua that she was attached to the children of Israel (God’s family) and staying under the table (close by) at meal time in order to receive her nourishment. I believe this woman understood that man does not live by bread alone but by every utterance that proceeds from the mouth of God and she desired to be close to those who served this God and therefore became a daughter of God herself, no longer a spiritual dog but one of His people and a bride to the Bridegroom.
We read in Mark 12:38-44, “38 And in His teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces 39 and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 40 who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” 41 And He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 43 And He called his disciples to Him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
What kind of heart would cause Yeshua to take notice and to want to point this widow out to His disciples? How often do you think Yeshua did this?
This is a woman who has very little but is willing to give it all just to be able to draw near to our Heavenly Father. What great faith and love this woman had for our God, the true heart of His bride! She was a widow, meaning she did not have someone to provide for her and during that time it was not like it is today where it is normal for women to have their own income or careers so she truly had to rely on God and God is faithful to provide! We don’t read of Yeshua taking notice of this kind of love and faith very often and the question that always comes to my mind is would it have happened if this women had been wealthy or not in need? I will leave that question for you to ponder. This truly was a blessed woman to be pointed out by our Messiah!
With our Heavenly Father it has always been about the heart condition toward Him, His Word and toward our neighbors. If our heart condition is anything like this poor widow we will seek to learn more about our God and how we can honor, serve, worship and glorify His name. This kind of heart leads to loving obedience and the willingness to give Him all!
All the religious appearances, traditions and titles do not mean a thing without first having the right heart. As we can see in verses 38 thru 40, most of the religious elite and those in roles of authority in those days were not after God but after the physical riches, notoriety and power that they could attain, even to the point of stealing homes from the widows. This is the opposite of having the right heart, this is a heart after the things of the world and being led by the flesh. Sadly, there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9) and the cyclical pattern repeats with those who claim to serve and worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to this very day.
We read in Mark 14:3-9, “3 And while He (Yeshua/Jesus) was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as He was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over His head. 4 There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. 6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. 9 And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”
This is a beautiful account when we understand that this woman was anointing Yeshua with the very best that she was able to provide. This fragrant oil was very expensive and based on the words of our Messiah when He said “she has done what she could”, this woman most likely spent what she had just to purchase this for Yeshua. I also believe she gave all she could to Him showing her immense love and faith because Yeshua made sure that what she had done would be written for all to see and to remember! What kind of heart did this woman have for Yeshua then? The kind that anoints her King and Savior with everything she had and the most important part being her heart!
I believe most of the greatest acts of love and faith that caused our Messiah’s heart to be moved were demonstrated by women who believed enough to submit and incline their heart felt emotions toward Him and toward our Heavenly Father by giving their all.
If you can identify with any of the accounts of these women may it be of great encouragement to you to know that you are in good company and just like them your healing, strength, provisions, peace, joy and life is found in the perfect Lamb of God that gave His life for you, and for me, for His loving bride.
I am inspired by the heart these women had toward the Lord and for their children, and may you be as well. A humble, poor, broken, contrite, compassionate, faithful and loving heart, this is the kind of heart revealed in Matthew 5:1-16, a heart that brings forth oil for the lamp and oil to anoint Yeshua as King and the Messiah. May we do the same! Amen!
If you haven’t listened to and/or read the message titled “Do You Have Oil In Your Lamp” please do! See the link below.
http://theloveoftruth.com/2016/12/13/do-you-have-oil-in-your-lamp/
I want to end this message with the following verse found in Jeremiah 17:14, “Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.”
May it be always!
Until next time, the Lord bless you and guard you.
Scripture References:
“37 The Lord said to Moses, 38 “Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. 39 And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. 40 So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord your God.” (Numbers 15:37-41)
“22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” 23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.” (Matthew 15:22-28)
“What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclestiastes 1:9)
“1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:1-16)