POWERFUL
Is the book of Judith in your Bible? Not all traditions consider it part of the canon, so you may or may not find it in your Bible when you go to look for it. If it’s not there, take a moment today and read it online. Start at chapter eight if you’re short on time. It’s a disturbing story (the movie version would definitely be rated R for violence), but it’s also incredibly powerful.
Here are just a few things worth noting about Judith, the book’s namesake:
1) She has been a widow, at the time of the book’s action, for three years and four months. She has been maintaining the substantial estate left to her. She is highly regarded for her faithfulness. No one spoke ill of her, for she feared God with great devotion (Judith 8:8).
2) When she learns that the rulers of her people have made a promise that she perceives to be wrong, putting God to the test, she immediately challenges them. In doing so, she confesses her faith in God, recalling with strength and conviction God’s acts in the past.
3) When the rulers respond with an invitation for her to pray for them, belittling her testimony, she doesn’t just propose a plan of action. She tells those who’ve failed their responsibility as leaders exactly what they need to do in order for her to do what needs to be done. Listen to me. I am about to do something that will go down through all generations of our descendants. Stand at the town gate tonight so that I may go out with my maid; and within the days after which you have promised to surrender the town to our enemies, the Lord will deliver Israel by my hand (Judith 8:32-33).
4) Before she puts her plan into place, Judith prays to God. She cries out to the Lord with a loud voice, expecting God will hear her. She prays that God would use her–a woman, a widow, one considered weak and without power–to crush arrogance, war, and trust in shield and spear.
It is a portion of her prayer that I ultimately wish to share with you today. It was a word I needed to hear this morning. I pray it will be a gracious and hopeful word for you too.
Judith acknowledges her perceived weakness, but believes God can and will work through her to stand on the side of the powerless and defend them from their enemies:
Give to me, a widow, the strong hand to do what I plan…For your strength does not depend on numbers, nor your might on the powerful. But you are the God of the lowly, helper of the oppressed, upholder of the weak, protector of the forsaken, savior of those without hope (Judith 9:9, 11).
Today, I am inspired by Judith and exceedingly grateful for a God whose power is employed for the sake of all those without hope.
Amen.