Have you ever read or heard a word and it just hits you differently? Have you then had that same, very normal word show up on repeat over several days? I’m sure many of you have!
I had this very thing happen to me last week while sitting in church. I had a word on my heart for us here at She Keeps, but then I heard that same, very normal word several times while sitting and listening to my Pastor teach.
We were looking at a specific scripture in Jonah when God told him to rise and go to Ninevah. There was one step of preparation God asked Jonah to make in order for him to begin to walk into God’s plan for him… He simply needed to rise.
There’s another story in the Bible that I really struggle with from time to time, it’s in Proverbs and about a woman who’s pretty awesome. She does it all and does it well. In fact, she’s the woman who we, as women of faith, draw inspiration from, and are taught to learn from her example. She’s THE Proverbs 31 woman. (I don’t know about you, but I have a few thoughts and feelings about her.)
The Proverbs 31 woman rises before the sun and starts preparing food for her kids and servant girls. She purchases land with money she has set aside, and she plants a vineyard. She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes. Her hands are never idle… just to name a few things she does.
She’s pretty fantastic. And she’s pretty exhausting! It literally makes me tired just thinking of her schedule.
She rises while it is still night, AND her lamp does not go out at night. Did she even sleep? She feels like someone who I would compare myself to in this life, and never measure up well against her.
Here’s the thing… I’m sure she did sleep, and I’m sure she got sick and had down days. I’m sure she had days when she was discouraged. She probably had days when she felt friendless, alone, or forgotten. She probably even had days when things were breaking and falling apart, and all she wanted to do was shout out her favorite cuss word and throw in the towel.
But she didn’t.
What she did do is clothed herself with strength and dignity, she ROSE, dusting herself off some days, and she moved forward. She moved forward into the calling that the Lord placed on HER life. She didn’t chase down her friend’s calling or live in her husband’s shadow. She ROSE, every day, and she did her work.
The point isn’t WHAT all she accomplished. The point is HOW she accomplished all the things.
She was a prepared woman.
She ROSE EARLY in the things she needed to accomplish. She rose early with the meals. She rose early with the bills she had to pay. She rose early with the items she was selling. She rose early and cared for her children’s hearts and souls. She rose early in caring for her husband. She rose early with a plan for her work. She rose early in caring for her friends.
There’s a common thread in her life, she (simply) ROSE. She understood the action step, she got up, and she moved forward every single day. Despite her circumstances, feelings, or expectations, she got up and got things done, and she did it with joy unto the Lord.
This word, rise or arise, is repeated in scripture over and over.
The Lord told Joshua: “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore ARISE, go over this Jordan, you and all these people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel.
Gideon directed his men to arise: As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “ARISE, for the LORD has given the host of Midian into your hand.”
And to Jonah: “ARISE, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah ROSE to flee… Jonah 1:2-3
Every one of these people was asked, or told others, to rise. They all had a specific calling from the Lord that they were to walk into, but the first thing they were asked to do before the calling, was to rise. (There’s more on this that I will chat about in different detail next week… So stay tuned.)
To arise or rise up means to be stirred up, to be awake, and to prepare for action. Before the Lord could get these men and women to the place He was calling them to, he asked them to take the first action step of rising. Rising was the preparation of the calling.
It’s the same for us…
There’s a stirring happening, sisters. It’s the stirring of being prepared for what the Lord has for us, for His calling on our lives. Let’s wake up to the stirring and make ourselves busy staying prepared so that when He says move, we are ready. Our preparation is just like theirs. So let’s do it, let’s rise…
This is how we can be prepared and proactive for the world in which we serve (home, work, etc.). We won’t become complacent, or succumb to discouragement. We are going to be RISERS, just like our sweet Proverbs 31 sister.
There are great days ahead, sister. Now RISE and be strong, the Lord is with you.
Let me know if you’re ready to rise with the rest of us, and check back in next week for more about rising!
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I need to read this every morning! Thanks for reminding me who I want to be!
This is so good! Thanks for sharing!!