“It is the culture of our people that when a man desires to marry a woman, the man is to give her family a dowry based upon her beauty. The most beautiful woman can receive for her family great wealth and it is a much anticipated thing when a beautiful girl reaches the age to marry.”
The missionary spoke, “So you had a very beautiful woman reach her age today?”
“No, we did not. We had a very plain woman come of age today,” replied the leader. “The man who is interested in her is the son of our wealthiest villager. Together they own more than half of the whole village and the son himself owns half of that. There has been much speculation as to why he would have interest in such a plain woman and as the weeks and days have passed leading up to her day of birth, there has been much talk about the dowry and how cheaply he would take this wife. Many families with beautiful daughters felt slighted and the young woman herself has been in seclusion, embarrassed to know how plain she is seen. Would he bring one cow, two sheep, two cows? Truly, it has captured the conversation of our entire village!”
“This morning the people of our village began lining up along the path that led to the young woman’s house to wait for the wealthy son to come with his dowry. I was there early, very close to the house, and I must tell you that for all the celebration it was very sad inside for the young woman and her family. Her father was angry that his daughter was to be used for a cheap wife, humiliating the whole family. The mother wailed in shame. And the daughter cried softly, maybe knowing that for the rest of her life that this day would be talked about in this village. So much commotion that at first, I did not realize that there was a new commotion coming along the path. It was the son bringing his offering for her dowry!”
The missionary, completely enthralled by the story now, asked excitedly, “And so, what did he bring? One cow? Two sheep? Did he bring three cows, is that why the people are celebrating?” “No,” whispered the village father, obviously still greatly affected by what had transpired.
“The young man brought it all. He gave everything he had to be with the young woman he loved.”
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16
If you are like the many women who will read this devotion you may have woke up recently and asked yourself, “How in the world did I get here today?” Oh, the journeys and paths to today may have been very different and yours is uniquely yours with its own twists and turns but still, here you are and here is what we all have in common. Somewhere, somehow, love did not turn out to be what you thought it was.
God tells us in His Word that love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all thing. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a)
Many women, however, never experience God’s love because they have traded His perfect love for worldly love, sin, and short pleasures that never seem to last. If that is where you find yourself today, I want to tell you – it doesn’t have to stay that way. God says that He is intimately acquainted with all of your ways that He formed you while you were in your mother’s womb and that He made you fearfully and wonderfully. He did not create you for what you see before you today in your circumstance, He created you to know Him and to live your life in His love. His perfect love!
I, personally, would love for you to know more. If you have any questions or would like to get together and talk, you can email me at lzwilliams@bellsouth.net.
The Rest of the Story
A decade later our missionary friend went back to visit the same village in our story. It had changed quite a bit in the last ten years, he noticed, being much larger and with so many more people milling around. He looked for some time to see if he could see anyone he recognized from his first visit with no luck. Finally, he came upon a group of women sewing in the market and asked where the village father he once knew could be found.
“I am sorry,” one very beautiful woman said, “but the one you ask for passed away some years ago. Could I find someone else to help you?”
The woman was so beautiful and so kind and she seemed to be such a leader among all of the women there that the missionary felt that he could ask her the question that had burdened his heart. “Tell me, if you would. Whatever happened to the plain young woman who married the wealthy man’s son? Are they still here?”
Smiling all the more beautifully the woman replied, “Yes, my husband and I are still here.”
You don’t know how beautiful you are until you discover how beautiful you are to God.
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