Women of the Bible Part 21

My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living G.o.d.

Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young- a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my G.o.d.

Suddenly a voice interrupted her recitation of the familiar psalm. Old Simeon, she saw, was holding a baby to his breast, p.r.o.nouncing words that thrilled her soul: "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel." Like her, Simeon had lived for nothing but Israel's consolation. Though he had not seen, yet he had believed. Anna watched as the child's parents hung on the old man's words. Then he handed the infant back to his mother, this time speaking more softly: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too."

Anna placed her arms gently around the young mother's shoulders and gazed at the sleeping infant. Words of thanksgiving spilled from her lips. Her heart felt buoyant, her hope unsinkable. More vividly than Jacob, who had dreamed of a ladder full of angels, or Moses, who had beheld a bush burning in the desert, she, Anna, a widow and prophetess from the tribe of Asher, had experienced the very presence of G.o.d. Her eyes had seen the promised child, whose brilliance would scatter the darkness and bring deliverance for all G.o.d's people.

Now she too felt like a sparrow soaring freely in the house of G.o.d. It no longer mattered that she was forbidden entry into the innermost courts of the temple. G.o.d himself was breaking down the dividing walls between Jew and Gentile, male and female, revealing himself to all who hungered for his presence. That day a child had transformed the Women's Court into the holiest place of all.

Scripture doesn't tell us whether Anna ever actually wished she were allowed to enter the innermost courts of the temple in Jerusalem. But her longing for G.o.d is obvious. Clearly, she was a woman with a great spiritual appet.i.te, who abandoned her life to G.o.d and was rewarded by meeting Jesus and his parents just forty days after his birth, during the presentation in the temple.

Tuesday HER LIFE AND TIMES.

THE TEMPLE COURTS.

The old woman Anna had probably spent upwards of sixty years in the temple. In fact, she never left it, "but wors.h.i.+ped night and day, fasting and praying" (Luke 2:37). The evidence of her devotion is not just in the fact that she spent all those years in prayer, but that she recognized the Christ. (He was, after all, only about six weeks old.) Yet even though Anna had relinquished a normal lifestyle, spent hours of every day in prayer, and gone without food as a sign of devotion, she was still not allowed access to the actual temple. Despite being relegated to the outer court for women, however, she never let that restriction squeeze her heart or strangle her love for G.o.d.

Solomon had built the first temple, an elaborate, white limestone structure, inlaid with gold. Zerubbabel built the second temple when the Jews returned from their captivity in Babylon. Herod the Great built the third temple, where Anna wors.h.i.+ped. He was a tireless builder, and the temple in Jerusalem was only one of his projects.

Herod's temple had four successive courts, each more exclusive than the one before it. The outer court was known as the Court of the Gentiles. This was the only place where non-Jews were allowed. This court was also the place where Jesus later cleared the temple of those buying and selling. The inner court was divided into two sections: the Women's Court, where Anna wors.h.i.+ped, and the Court of Israel. Both Jewish women and men could enter the Women's Court, but only Jewish men were allowed into the Court of Israel. The Court of the Priests surrounded the actual temple building itself and was accessible only to those of the Levitical priesthood.

The customs of her time may have restricted the physical location of Anna's wors.h.i.+p, but no earthly regulation could bind her actual wors.h.i.+p or devotion. Be an Anna! Don't let anything limit your devotion to G.o.d! No earthly rules or restrictions. No past mistakes or sins. No life situations that you can't overcome. Let nothing get in the way of wors.h.i.+ping your G.o.d and recognizing your Savior.

Wednesday HER LEGACY IN SCRIPTURE.

Read Luke 2:22 - 38.

1. Simeon "was waiting for the consolation of Israel" (verse 25). Anna knew there were others in the temple "who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem" (verse 38). These are references to the coming of the Messiah. What would it feel like to wait and hope like that for years and years?

2. What do Simeon's words tell you about Jesus' mission?

3. Why do you think so many people were hoping and praying for the Messiah? What does that say about how they viewed their lives?

4. Describe Anna's lifestyle (verse 37). What aspects of it seem attractive or foreign to you?

5. What do you long for G.o.d to accomplish before you die? Or if you don't long for anything, why do you suppose that's the case?

Thursday HER PROMISE.

Anna's life revolved around prayer and fasting in the temple. She evidently had no family, no home, no job. Instead, G.o.d was her family, the temple her home, and prayer her occupation. Though you may not have the freedom to spend every moment in prayer, as she did, you can be sure the time you do spend is never wasted. If you long to see your Savior, to experience his presence in your life, let Anna's devotion encourage you.

Promises in Scripture Obey me, and I will be your G.o.d and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you.

-Jeremiah 7:23 He has shown all you people what is good.

And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your G.o.d.

-Micah 6:8 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

-Romans 12:10 Friday HER LEGACY OF PRAYER.

She never left the temple but wors.h.i.+ped night and day, fasting and praying.

-Luke 2:37 Reflect On: Luke 2:36 - 38.

Praise G.o.d: That Jesus is the true Bread from heaven, who satisfies the hungry heart.

Offer Thanks: For men and women who hunger and thirst for G.o.d's kingdom.

Confess: Any tendency to be so locked into your own concerns that you fail to pray for others in need.

Ask G.o.d: To increase your hunger for his kingdom.

Lift Your Heart Anna did more than merely long for the coming Messiah; she prayed and fasted daily for the coming of G.o.d's kingdom. Even though Christianity has spread across the globe, there are still many people who suffer from war and injustice, many who have little or nothing to eat, and many more who live in spiritual darkness. This week stretch yourself beyond your immediate concerns. Look at an atlas, a map, or a globe, and choose a country for which to pray. Read newspaper reports and magazine articles that will help you understand what is going on in that nation. Fast and pray for peace, for daily bread, for freedom, for justice, and for Christ's light to s.h.i.+ne upon that people.

Jesus, I long for your light to spread across the whole earth so that peoples from every land will know you. Today, give me a burden for another nation or ethnic group that knows little of you. Show me how to pray in a way that builds your kingdom.

The Woman of Samaria.

Her Character: Looked down upon by the Jews because she was a Samaritan and disdained because of her many romantic liaisons, she would not have been most people's first choice to advance the gospel in a region where it had not yet been heard.

Her Sorrow: To have lived in a way that relegated her to the margins of her society.

Her Joy: That Jesus broke through barriers of culture, race, and religion in order to reveal himself to her.

Key Scripture: John 4:1 - 42.

Monday.

HER STORY.

Every day, the woman carried her water jug to Jacob's well just outside Sychar, a town midway between Jerusalem and Nazareth. Even though it was the hottest time of the day, she preferred it to the evening hours, when the other women gathered. How tired she was of their wagging tongues. Better the scorching heat than their sharp remarks.

She was surprised, however, to see that today someone had already arrived at the well-a Jew from Galilee by the looks of him. At least she had nothing to fear from his tongue, for Jews did their best to avoid Samaritans, despising them as half-breeds who wors.h.i.+ped not in the temple at Jerusalem but at their shrine on Mount Gerizim.

For once she was glad to be ignored, grateful, too, that men did not address women in public.

But as she approached the well, the man startled her, breaking the rules she had counted on to protect her. "Will you give me a drink?" he asked.

What kind of a Jew was this? she wondered. Certainly not a Pharisee, or he would have taken the long way around Samaria to get to Galilee. With a toss of her head, she replied, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?"

But he wouldn't be put off. "If you knew the gift of G.o.d and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

"Sir," she replied, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?" That should take him down a notch or two.

But the man kept pressing. "Go," he told her, "call your husband and come back."

This last request took the wind out of her. Her quick tongue was barely able to reply, "I have no husband."

"You are right when you say you have no husband," Jesus said. "The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."

His words cut her. Shaking off the hurt, she tried changing the subject, diverting him by stirring up the old controversy between Jews and Samaritans. "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers wors.h.i.+ped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must wors.h.i.+p is in Jerusalem."

Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will wors.h.i.+p the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans wors.h.i.+p what you do not know; we wors.h.i.+p what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true wors.h.i.+pers will wors.h.i.+p the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of wors.h.i.+pers the Father seeks."

The woman said, "I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."

Leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, "Come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?"

Meanwhile, his disciples, who had gone into the town to look for food, returned and urged him, "Rabbi, eat something."

But Jesus replied, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."

Dodge, counterdodge-nothing the woman said would keep Jesus at bay. He kept pressing beneath the surface, inviting her to a deeper understanding, hemming her in by revealing his knowledge of the most intimate details of her life. Overwhelmed, she finally admitted the truth. And when she did, Jesus startled her with a revelation about himself: He admitted, for the first time, that he was the Messiah. Though she hadn't known it, she had been conversing with her Savior.

Jesus had arrived at the well thirsty, hungry, and tired from the journey north to Galilee. But by the time his disciples returned from their shopping trip in Sychar, he seemed refreshed and restored by his encounter with the woman.

She, in turn, was so deeply affected by him that she exclaimed to whoever would listen: "He told me everything I ever did." At the Samaritans' urging, Jesus stayed on for two days and many came to believe, saying to the woman: "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."

Tuesday HER LIFE AND TIMES.

WATER.

Cool, clear water. A commodity most of us today take for granted. We turn on a faucet, and fresh, clean water is readily available. In Palestine, however, water is scarce and highly valued.

The long, mostly rainless summers cause most of the rivers in Palestine to dry up completely. Even the Jordan River becomes shallow, narrow, and muddy in the summer months. The early peoples of Palestine depended on rain during the spring and fall months for their water supply. Though scarce at other times during the year, the rain during these seasons kept the springs and wells flowing and the cisterns full.

The Jews became adept at gathering every bit of rainwater, storing it up for future use during the dry seasons. Cisterns, covered pools dug out of rock specifically for storing rainwater, were numerous. In Jerusalem, the temple area alone had thirty-seven cisterns, one of them large enough to hold over two million gallons of water. Gutters, pipes, and waterways directed the rainwater from the surface to the underground cisterns, which would provide a constant supply of water, even during dry spells.

Heavy dew provided a good share of the moisture required by crops growing in the summer months. The warm, cloudless nights of Palestinian summers provide prime conditions for dew to form. Where ample water was readily available, farmers irrigated crops and vineyards to maximize the produce received from a field.

Drinking water was stored and carried in goatskins. Many towns and cities had drinking water for sale in their markets and on the streets. Only a small amount of water was used for was.h.i.+ng, simply because it was so scarce. However, good hospitality required that a guest in someone's home receive a basin of water to wash at least his or her feet and hands after walking on the dusty roads (Genesis 18:4; John 13:5).

Getting daily water from the neighborhood well or cistern was the duty of the younger women of a household. They would usually go to the well in the evening, when the air was cooler. It's interesting to note that the Samaritan woman went to the well at noon ("the sixth hour"), probably in order to avoid the other women, who may have looked down on her.

Water is used in symbolic ways throughout Scripture. David compared his troubles to "deep waters" (Psalm 69:1 - 2, 14; 124:5). The book of Proverbs compares people's words to deep waters and wise words to a "bubbling brook" of water (Proverbs 18:4). Good news is like fresh water (Proverbs 25:25). Several pa.s.sages refer to our sins being washed away (Psalm 51:7; Ephesians 5:26; Hebrews 10:22). Jesus told the Samaritan woman that he had water that would take away her thirst forever. The water he was speaking of was not, of course, two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, but spiritual water-a water that will fill us so full of himself that all our needs will be met, all our wants satisfied, and all our thirsts fulfilled.

Wednesday HER LEGACY IN SCRIPTURE.

Read John 4:4 - 42.

1. Trace the Samaritan woman's emotional responses as her encounter with Jesus progressed. What do you think she was feeling in verses 7 - 9? Verses 10 - 12? Verses 13 - 15? Verse 16? Verses 17 - 20? Verses 21 - 26?

2. Looking at her life, what do you think this woman was really thirsty for?

3. What have you used to try to satisfy your spiritual thirst apart from Christ? Family? Career? Shopping? Entertainment?

4. Verses 25 - 26 are the first time Jesus acknowledged exactly who he is. Why do you think he would choose to tell this woman, an outcast of society in a town of Samaria, instead of the leaders of Jewish religion and culture or even his own disciples? What sort of reaction do you have to his choice?

5. What do you think convinced the Samaritan woman that Jesus was who he said he was?

6. IfJesus really is the Savior who knows everything you ever did, what can the Samaritan woman teach you about how to respond to him today?

Thursday HER PROMISE.

Are you thirsty? Is there a longing in you that you just can't seem to meet? Do you hunger for something to fill some void, some emptiness you can't even explain? Look everywhere, try everything -you'll find nothing in this world that will satisfy. Only Jesus can provide the living water that will fill you to overflowing, that will satisfy your longing, that will soothe your thirst so completely you'll never be thirsty again.

Promises in Scripture Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

-Psalm 90:14 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

-Matthew 5:6 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.

-Luke 6:21 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

-John 4:13 THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA 315.

Friday HER LEGACY OF PRAYER.

Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

-John 4:28 - 30 Reflect On: John 4:4 - 42.

Praise G.o.d: Because in his kingdom, the last shall be first.

Offer Thanks: For the way he has uncovered your need for him.

Confess: Any tendency to act as though G.o.d cannot use your neediness but only your strength.

Ask G.o.d: To give you the humility to face the depth of your need for grace.

Lift Your Heart It is always difficult to admit our sins, particularly if we think G.o.d will love us only if we behave well. Though we might never articulate such a thought, it shapes our theology more than we like to admit. This week, make a list of everything G.o.d knows about you that you wish he didn't. Thank him for loving you despite your sins. Then tear up the list, remembering the words of Psalm 103:11-12: For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Lord, you know everything about me, even the things I'm hiding from myself Give me the grace to admit my sin, believing that though you see me, you still love me. Help me to let go of anything that keeps me from experiencing the living water of your Holy Spirit welling up inside me.