DAY SEVEN: Let Us Bless Faithful Women

In many ways the story of God's plan of salvation in the Bible is a history that hangs upon the contributions of faithful women.

1. It starts in Genesis 3.15, with the first proclamation of the Good News. This word, addressed to the serpent, foretells the coming of a child born of a woman who will crush the serpent's head. This pictures Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, who was wounded for our sins, but who triumphed forever over all sin, evil and death.
2. It continues in the stories of the matriarchs, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah, women who faced insurmountable odds but proved God through faith.
3. One such woman, Tamar of the tribe of Judah, saved the chosen line, by unconventional means to be sure, and was hailed as a righteous woman of faith.
4. In Egypt, it was the faithful midwives who saved Israel by protecting the Hebrew male children, including Moses. It was even a foreign woman, Pharaoh's daughter, who drew him from the water and gave him a home in the palace.
5. Rahab, a woman of poor reputation, saved herself and her family from God's judgment, joined the people of Israel and became a forbear of the Messiah.
6. A foreign woman named Ruth practiced great determination and faithful love, and in the process experienced God's providence, which brought her to Boaz. She became a mother in the family line of David, and ultimately the Son of David.
7. Bathsheba, a woman cruelly used as a pawn in royal intrigues, became David's wife and Solomon's mother, a queen who prepared the way for the King of kings to come.
8. As we read the first page of Luke's Gospel, we meet Elizabeth, mother of the Messiah's forerunner, John the Baptizer. Like the matriarchs before her, she overcame impossible circumstances through faith in the living God, who provided a son for her.
9. And then, the ultimate woman of faith—Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary is the preeminent woman in God’s plan, the ultimate faithful woman whom God would use to bring Jesus to the world. From the angel’s first words to her, “Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you” to Elizabeth’s exclamation, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb,” Mary is identified as the final one in the line of faithful women that began in Genesis and advanced God's redemption plan.
   

Let us now bless faithful women!