Welcome to Women Of The Bible speak. Im Shannon Bream. Loyalty to god does not ensure a life of happiness. In fact, loyalty can often lead to bigger challenges. Television icon Kathie Lee Gifford exemplifies the hardships and blessings that come from a life of steadfast faith, loyalty to god means putting him first. Every morning i wake up before i have any other thought. I pray. Thank you, lord, for your faithfulness to watch over me during the night, and i thank him for a new day. If i have a pulse, i have a purpose to be loyal to him. The book of first samuel begins with a narrative that will weave throughout the Old Testament. The story of david. But in order to have david, we have to have samuel, the prophet who anointed david to his great calling. And to have samuel, we have to have hannah. So hannah stands right at the center of this unfolding story. Scripture doesnt give us that much information about hannah. Interestingly enough, we dont know much of her background. She is an
welcome to women of the bible speak. i m shannon bream. loyalty to god does not ensure a life of happiness. in fact, loyalty can often lead to bigger challenges. television icon kathie lee gifford exemplifies the hardships and blessings that come from a life of steadfast faith, loyalty to god means putting him first. every morning i wake up before i have any other thought. i pray. thank you, lord, for your faithfulness to watch over me during the night, and i thank him for a new day. if i have a pulse, i have a purpose to be loyal to him. the book of first samuel begins with a narrative that will weave throughout the old testament. the story of david. but in order to have david, we have to have samuel, the prophet who anointed david to his great calling. and to have samuel, we have to have hannah. so hannah stands right at the center of this unfolding story. scripture doesn t give us that much information about hannah. interestingly enough, we don t know much of her backgroun
in the book of judges, israel once again turned away from god. so god allowed the king of canaan and his army commander cicero, to oppress the israelites. after years of abuse, israel cried out to god for help. god answered their plea through a judge, a woman named deborah. i really love the story of deborah, and i identify with her because of my legal background and working as a lawyer. i love that she was such a wise, esteemed individual that she was this female leader of israel, which was super unusual. deborah is extraordinary because she is the only evidence we have of a female judge. and we see her portrayed in the scripture as a model of wisdom and discernment and good judgment. we see her dispensing legal decisions for the tribes of israel sitting in judgment at her palm tree. we really get the sense that israel is a bunch of tiny tribes who more or less come together when there s an outside threat.
there s a sense of unity going on in the period of deborah that we don t see with some of the other judges, which is unusual, both because unity rarely happens and also because it s under the leadership of deborah. we rarely see a woman as political and military leader in the scriptures or when we do. often it s negative. deborah showed no hesitation when god commanded her to go into battle against this army that badly outmanned, outgunned the israelites in every way. they didn t have any of the chariots. they didn t have any of the weapons. they had nothing. and these people had been oppressing them for a long time. so instead of just looking at the facts on their face when god told her to go do it, deborah is like, okay. following god s direction, israel assembled an army to take on the canaanites, powerful army commander cicero, a task that from an outsider s perspective, seemed ludicrous. what s going on politically at this moment is that the tribes of israel are being crushed by s
but then to be seeing the woman that you share your husband with your own sister, very fertile, having child after child after child that had to just throw enormous salt in the wound for rachel. rachel said to leah, please give me some of your son to manage. right. but leah said to her, wasn t it enough that you took away my husband? will you take away my son s mandrax to the mandrake plant was thought to increase fertility, but it wasn t until years after rachel got her hands on it that her prayers were answered. and she was blessed with a son named joseph. eventually, she is blessed with children and she s overcome with gratitude, and it s been a long struggle for her. god remembered rachel. he saw her pain and in her prayers over a child. and he answered those for her. genesis tells us as soon as rachel had joseph, a new obstacle arose. laban their father starts accusing jacob of stealing from him. and i can feel like his life is in danger.