What does a woman need to know about herself?

1. She is created in the image and likeness of God

Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth.” So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.(Genesis 1:26-27 NASB)

2. She is a suitable helper for her husband

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” (Genesis 2:18 NASB)

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.  Then the man said, “At last this is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of man.” (Genesis 2:21-23 NASB) 

3. She is one flesh with her husband

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24 NASB)

4. Her role in marriage is submission

Wives, subject yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. (Ephesians 5:22-23 NASB)

5. She represents the image of the Church on earth

But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. (Ephesians 5:24 NASB)

6. The woman who fears the Lord is a model woman

• She has a great worth

An excellent wife, who can find her? For her worth is far above jewels. (Proverbs 31:10 NASB)

• She is trustworthy and does good to her husband

The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life. (Proverbs 31:11-12 NASB)

• She is hardworking and meets the needs of the family

She looks for wool and linen, And works with her hands in delight. She is like merchant ships; She brings her food from afar. (Proverbs 31:13-14 NASB)

• She manages things wisely in the family

And she rises while it is still night and gives food to her household, and portions to her attendants. (Proverbs 31:15 NASB)

• She possesses entrepreneurial skills

She considers a field and buys it; From her earnings she plants a vineyard. She surrounds her waist with strength And makes her arms strong. She senses that her profit is good; Her lamp does not go out at night. She stretches out her hands to the distaff, And her hands grasp the spindle. (Proverbs 31:16-19 NASB)

• She has a generous heart

She extends her hand to the poor, And she stretches out her hands to the needy. (Proverbs 31:20 NASB)

• She creates a good image of her husband in society

Her husband is known in the gates, When he sits among the elders of the land. (Proverbs 31:23 NASB)

• She is strong

Strength and dignity are her clothing, And she smiles at the future. (Proverbs 31:25 NASB)

• She is wise

She opens her mouth in wisdom, And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. (Proverbs 31:26 NASB)

• She watches over her house

She watches over the activities of her household, And does not eat the bread of idleness. (Proverbs 31:27 NASB)

• She is appreciated by her husband and children

Her children rise up and bless her; Her husband also, and he praises her, saying: “Many daughters have done nobly, But you excel them all.” (Proverbs 31:28-29 NASB)

• Her deeds go before her

Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her the product of her hands, And let her works praise her in the gates. (Proverbs 30:30-31 NASB)

7. She must be uncompromising in order to be able to teach

Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored. (Titus 2:3-5 NASB)

8. She must teach her children the Word of God

For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelled in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well. (1 Timothy 1:5 NASB)

9. She influence the king’s decisions

When Abigail saw David, she hurried and dismounted from her donkey, and fell on her face in front of David and bowed herself to the ground. She fell at his feet and said, “On me alone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your slave speak to you, and listen to the words of your slave. Please do not let my lord pay attention to this worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and stupidity is with him; but I, your slave, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent. “Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, since the Lord has restrained you from shedding blood, and from avenging yourself by your own hand, now then, may your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be like Nabal.  And now let this gift which your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who accompany my lord.  Please forgive the offense of your slave; for the Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil will not be found in you all your days.  Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, then the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; but the lives of your enemies He will sling out as from the hollow of a sling. And when the Lord does for my lord in accordance with all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and appoints you ruler over Israel, this will not become an obstacle to you, or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord’s having avenged himself. When the Lord deals well with my lord, then remember your slave.” Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me, (1 Samuel 25:23-32 NASB)

10. She can save a nation

Now the king and Haman came to drink wine with Esther the queen.  And the king said to Esther on the second day also as they drank their wine at the banquet, “What is your request, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your wish? Up to half of the kingdom it shall be done.”  Then Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me as my request, and my people as my wish;  for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, killed, and eliminated. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have kept silent, because the distress would not be sufficient reason to burden the king.”  Then King Ahasuerus asked Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, [c]who would presume to do such a thing?”  And Esther said, “A foe and an enemy is this wicked Haman!” Then, Haman became terrified before the king and queen.The king then got up in his anger from drinking wine and went into the palace garden; but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm had been determined against him by the king. (Esther 7:1-7 NASB)

Translated by Ina Croitoru