It is remarkable that we so often overlook the importance of those who are standing in the shadows. Yet their impact on the lives of all those around them can shape the future far more than those who stand in the limelight and the center of the stage. Take a moment to focus on one of the most unheralded heroes of the Bible. That person is the mother of David, the most widely known individual in the history of the nation of Israel.
She is so obscure that we do not even know her name. We know the name of her husband, Jesse, but she is mentioned only one time in the Scriptures. David speaks of her in Psalm 86. He was in despair because of the many enemies who sought to destroy him. He begged for God to hear him, “…for I am poor and needy” (v. 1). He called upon the Lord to preserve his life, to save him and to be merciful to him, “…for I cry to You all day long” (v. 3). He had not lost his faith in God (v. 6), but his life was filled with adversity because “a mob of violent men have sought my life” (v. 14). Perhaps you have been in such deep valleys in your life, for there often times like this in the life of many of us.
David could have thought of how God had been merciful to those who were before Him. He could have thought of the faithfulness of Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and as a son of such great men, he could have asked God to be merciful to him. However, it was not on the basis of these great men.
Rather it was on the fact that God had known his mother and her life, and as a son of his mother he asked God to hear him (v. 16).
Look carefully at his prayer. “Oh, turn to me and have mercy on me! Give strength to Your servant and save the son of your maidservant” (v. 16). When David thought of his mother and the impact on his life, he knew she belonged to God. When he thought of her, he remembered that she was one who belonged to God.
He also saw her as one who served God. She was not in the center of the stage like others. She was a humble servant, the wife of an unheralded husband in an obscure Jewish village. The world may not have seen her worth, but David and God valued the importance of what she was doing far differently than others did.
She was blessed by God. David saw it. He asked God to hear him, not because of his forefathers, but because of his own mother. He had seen God in her life. He had seen her righteousness and asked God to bless him because of her!
So, if you feel worthless, think about Mrs. Jesse. Then be like her, faithfully serving God and shaping the world by the life you live in the shadows and not on center stage.
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