Daily Manna

Key Verse

“But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these” (Judges 13:23).

TEXT — Judges 13:15-25

Message

When the United Nations first marked International Women’s Day on March 8, 1975, and made it an annual event, humanity was invited to recognise and honour a critical segment of the world’s population. Statistics over the past two decades have repeatedly revealed that there were more men than women living across the nations of the world. Of the total 7.95 billion human beings in 2022, four billion were male, with 3.95 billion female. Demographers say that although men slightly outnumber their opposite gender, the latter’s efforts in upholding the fabric of society and the home suggest weightier contributions than many might concede.

The stabilising and engaging role of women in the world came in handy in the home of Manoah. Trembling and expecting death because an angel had appeared to him and his wife to announce that they would have a son after years of childlessness was pointless. His utterances of imminent tragedy and disaster were uncalled for. They denied him the blessedness of a celestial visitation. It was a woman who delivered him. His wife spoke faith and logic to restore hope. The angel was not a messenger of death; otherwise, he would not have brought life-giving tidings.

Today, the world is also counting on the wise counsel of the womenfolk. Accordingly, they are saddled with critical roles in government, industry, politics, civil service, the military, different professions, academia, and the home. Even while keeping the home as joyful mothers of children, as the Bible says, females have become heads of governments with excellent achievements. The first person to win the prestigious Nobel Prize in two fields was a woman: Marie Curie, physics in 1903 and chemistry in 1911. She is the only person who has bagged the laurel in multiple sciences. The old notion of the home being the pinnacle of a woman has been overthrown.

Our Lord Jesus Christ recognised the place of women and allowed them roles in His Ministry. They “ministered unto him of their substance.” God’s justice system is for the woman to be the man’s “help meet” in a union in which either will be indispensable. The two must function as one, even as each has distinct and distinctive features that cannot stand alone. Both derive their uniqueness from mutual reliance. It is, therefore, against God’s order for women to seek militant gender independence or for men to treat women as inferior.

Thought for the day

Woe to a world in which women are displaced.

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