Call me old fashioned, but the thought of pursuing a man is just not something I believe a woman should do. Not at the beginning of a relationship… not ever! There’s something to be said about a woman knowing that her man chose to be with her exclusively. It instills within her another layer of confidence regarding the unique qualities that make her so special. This creates a fountain that will water down any questionable moments if ever down the road she may question his affinity for her. Proverbs 18:22 tells us that a man that finds a wife finds a treasure. This is God’s standard and a better one doesn’t exist. Heavenly Father didn’t etch this in stone to make a woman feel less worthy, quite the contrary. His wisdom is airtight. Heavenly Father wants sisters in Christ to know they are treasures, and they are worth every ounce of energy a man expends to find them.
Modern thinking pressures us to step outside the order God has put in place. Adding to this is the fact that when many of us look around at our girlfriends, some of them seem to be finding a degree of success by taking matters into their own hands. I’ve often experienced some push-back from my own friends that tell me I’m too old-fashioned, that I’m not being proactive. Well, the one thing that I do have, and the thing they overlook I might add, is the experience of testing the waters by trying to steer the ship myself, and the results of lessons well learned have taught me that God’s way is, without fail, always best.
When you are in wait-mode, waiting for the fulfillment of the promise, a lot of people make the mistake of thinking that you’re just sitting around with your hands tucked under your bottom. It is very true that many of us have taken this apathetic approach, but there is another road that a single Christian woman can take with respect to waiting to cross paths with her future partner, and it’s the true essence of what we should all be doing as ambassadors for Christ.
In the book of Ruth, we learn of the faithfulness of Ruth to her mother-in-law, Naomi. This record in the bible was set in a time where there was a great drought. The land was so barren that things looked very bleak for Naomi, a widow, and her daughter-in-law, Ruth, also a widow. Women were not allowed to work and make their own money in those times, and with no men to help them, they often faced very desperate situations. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ encouraged us to be especially compassionate and generous towards widows for this very reason.
The landscape of singledom in today’s time gives us a pretty accurate depiction of the word ‘barren’ and ‘drought’. It feels like slim pickins’ out there, and this will sometimes pressure a woman of God to do things outside of His Divine Will. Ruth, a young woman with dire circumstances, made a decision to pledge her allegiance to Naomi, a woman with circumstances that were even more grim. Because Naomi worshiped the God of Israel, Ruth began to do the same. Her obedience and faithfulness were rewarded, and she ultimately married Boaz, a man of great wealth.
This wasn’t a bop-bam-boom occurrence. There was some serious diligence on the part of these women to press their way through. They lived in a time in which the Savior had not come, and the indwelling Holy Spirit was not available. That isn’t the case with us. Not only have we received the gift, but we have been commissioned by Christ himself to walk in the spirit and to complete the work that he started.
God wants us to know that as we labor in the vineyard, He’ll take care of everything else. Our faithfulness is what He’s looking for, and this is the thing that brings forth the reward. Someone might say, “Well, I’m not going to wait for the man to make the first move!” God doesn’t need any help with rewarding us. We just have to be honest about whether we’ve done enough to actually BE rewarded; that really is the question. So let God do what He does best. Be in pursuit of His goodness and love, and you’ll recognize the right man when he’s presented to you; because if you’re on your grind for the Kingdom, your future husband will pursue you with honor, respect, and a generosity that will blow your mind! ■