Lessons from 5 women in The Bible

The Bible is full of amazing people we can learn different things from and today we will take a look at 5 women in The Bible and lessons we can learn from them – lessons we can apply in our lives today. Let’s dive in!

Jochebed, the mother of Moses

Moses is one of the main people in the Bible, but his life could have ended quickly. 

Pharaoh, the king of Egypt was scared that the Israelites would become too many and powerful and ordered for all male Hebrew babies to be killed. Moses’ mother however decides to hide him for 3 months and later she places him in a basket and lets the basket travel down the river of Nile and he ends up being found by Pharaoh’s daughter and raised in the palace. Moses is the one that is chosen to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. 

What we can learn from this woman in the Bible: Jochebed wasn’t the one that led the Israelites out of Egypt, but her decision to first save the life of her son and later to let him go and send him down the Nile enabled for that to happen. Her part was not the most visible one, but without her the rest would not have happened. If we are faithful in what God calls us to do the consequences of that are sometimes bigger than we could ever imagine.

Rahab, the one that hid the spies. 

When the Israelites had made it to the borders of the promised land they came to a city called Jericho. Joshua sent out two spies to the city and when the spies got in trouble with the people in the city they are helped by Rahab, a prostitute. 

Later when the walls of Jericho fall, the house of Rahab remains standing, because she helped the people of God. Rahab is also the mother of Boaz, who later marries Ruth that we will read about in the next paragraph, and she is also mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus. 

What can we learn from this woman in the Bible: Rahab, being a prostitute, was not a likely person to be in the family tree of Jesus, but the book of Hebrew teaches us that God saw the heart of Rahab, and she was a woman of faith. We might not feel good enough to do what God is calling us to do, but from this story we can learn that it’s not about us, but about believing in Him!

Ruth, the Moabite

We encounter this woman in the book of Ruth that starts with the sad story of a woman named Naomi that loses both her husband and her two sons in the span of 10 years. One of Naomi’s sons was married to a woman named Ruth, a moabite. At this time they were living in the country of Moab, but there was a famine and Naomi found out that there was food in Judah, where she was originally from, so she chooses to move back. Ruth decides to follow her with the famous words: “Your people will be my people and your God my God”. 

Ruth and Naomi move to Judah and much is uncertain, but the Lord is faithful to them. They find favor with a man named Boaz and he allows Ruth to gather food in his fields. Later in the story Boaz and Ruth end up getting married and they have a son named Obed, who is the grandfather of no one less than King David. 

Lesson we can learn from this woman in the Bible: Ruth risked her future when she chose to follow Naomi, but God saw her and was faithful to her. God can be trusted even when we take difficult steps of obedience, He has a bigger plan than what we can figure out!

Esther, queen of Persia

Esther was a jew living in the Persian Empire. She entered the beauty pageant arranged by the king to choose a new queen and ended up winning the competition and therefore became queen of Persia. During this time there was a decree made that all the jewish people would be killed during a specific date and Esther together with Mordecai, another jew living in Persia, ended up coming up with a plan that in the end saved the jewish people from being killed. 

The famous phrase in the book of Esther is “for such a time as this”, when Mordecai tells Esther that perhaps the very reason that she became queen right at this time was that she could play a role in saving her own people from being killed. 

Lesson we can learn from this woman in the Bible: Esther was chosen to be queen, but her real calling for this time was not to be just queen, but her position enabled her to be part of the rescue plan for her people. God can use people in positions of influence to release blessing and His purposes over people. Maybe you are where you are right now for something more than just what you do?

Mary, mother of Jesus

Lastly of our lessons from 5 women in the Bible, we will meet Mary. Mary is chosen to become pregnant with Jesus and she gets these news through a visit from the angel Gabriel. This puts her in a difficult position since she is not married yet, and it’s unsure how the people around her will react, but Mary says yes to this task and ends up giving birth to Jesus in a stable. She also ends up having to flee to Egypt to save his life and later she has to see him be crucified. 

Mary got to be part of the most central story in human history; the birth of Jesus Christ. She said yes to this task, a great honor, but it also came with a price. 

What we can learn from this woman in the Bible: Mary said yes and it enabled Jesus to be born. Are we ready to do the same so Jesus can be born into situations and the lives of people? To say yes to discomfort and ready to take risks? It’s a great honor to serve Him, the King of Kings, but at times it also comes with a price. 

These were lessons from 5 women in the Bible, all so different, but they all said yes to what God had for them and through that ended up leaving their mark in history. It wasn’t easy, but God made it possible, sometimes through impossible circumstances. He is still writing His great story and He is still involving people ready to say yes to Him. Does He have your yes?