The daring ones…

Have you ever heard of Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah? It's possible you haven't. Yet they changed their world. They were the five daughters of Zelophehad who demanded their rights in a patriarchal society. They decided they couldn't accept that their father's lineage would die out when he had no sons. Boldly, they stood before Moses and the leaders of the people and demanded an inheritance for themselves alongside their father's brothers. God took up their cause, and the law was amended in their favor, allowing daughters to inherit their father's property. (To give an idea of the magnitude of this decision, it's worth noting that in Jane Austen's England, daughters still couldn't inherit; property went to the closest male relative.)

Even today, far too many women miss out on their inheritance in God because they cannot find a man to whom they can trace their destiny. They do not dare to step forward and say 'here we are'. A journalist from the highly respected evangelical magazine Christianity Today, after attending a conference on church planting where not a single woman was present, poses this question in an article 'Where are the women? Are there no women starting churches?' A question that got me thinking. I was thinking especially of single people, who don't have the 'distinction' of being the wife of... Even I hardly know any.

Yet there are plenty of women sitting in church pews waiting to get married so they can minister alongside their husbands, constantly marginalized by pastors who either prefer to work with men or with couples, and by pastors' wives who are terrified of any contact, however distant, between their husbands and a single woman. These sisters are getting older and more frustrated, while the calling within them shrivels and dies. A real shame. The harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few, and many of those lack the common sense of Zelophehad's five daughters.

To all my sisters who are vegetating in the wings waiting for the day when a man will notice them and they can finally obtain their inheritance through him, you will forgive my frankness, but 'you are wasting your time'. Do not waste your life, you are not a subsidiary organ, you are not an accessory, nor an extra, you are an entity in your own right, a person on whom God formulated plans even before your conception, you are the main actor in your life. So, shake it off, get on your knees before God, stand up before men, seize your destiny and take your place. My friends, there is work to be done, do it; preach the gospel, create churches, ministries, walk in your inheritance.

Not everyone will applaud. You will face prejudice, misunderstandings, chauvinism, disdain, criticism, from both men and women, who cares! No doubt some, men and women, must have found it odd that women could inherit in Israel. The five sisters were not moved by it. Make no mistake, there will always be someone to oppose your project. Just make sure that God is on your side, and if he is, as with Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah, and Tirzah, all will be well. But above all, remember this: God needs you.