Women Champions - part 1
Everyone loves a champion. We have champions in history, sports, television, civil rights, and more. Champions are defined as people who have won a race, been victorious through an obstacle, conquered in battle, or overcome a hurdle. Champions are looked up to, emulated, and talked about, some for centuries, others for just a moment in time. No matter how large the audience or big the splash, champions are loved and esteemed.
When my husband Bill’s father went home to be with the Lord he was 84 years old and to all of his family members, he was a bona fide champion. Bill’s father spent a lifetime helping people. He served as a county sheriff, and later as a county commissioner for years.
At his funeral every age group attended, from young children to senior citizens, each with a story as to how this man had touched their lives. He had shoveled walks for the elderly never seeking a dollar, plowed driveways for people who could not do it themselves, brought food to the hungry, and provided jobs for the unemployed. This champion had invested his life in others and he was a champion of the people. Some called him the hero of his hometown.
When I think about my own father, I also think of a champion. Even though he was poor and just barely making it, he raised four children on his own and made sure we were cared for. He weathered the polio epidemic with my youngest brother losing the use of his leg from that disease. My mother developed a cancerous brain tumor a few years later, and my father walked through that storm and her death without a complaint. Vietnam came and one of my brothers, a Marine, ended up there doing service time. Dad seemed to take life in stride, knowing he wasn’t in control, but God was. He died young at age 57 leaving all of us kids with one thought: “He was a good man.” I would call that a champion.
Books on champions are found in our libraries and we also learn of champions in the Scriptures. Champions in Scripture were put there for you and me to be encouraged and for us to have models to follow and emulate. Joshua, called to march into the Promised Land, was told to be strong and courageous. He couldn’t be a champion if he feared the giants in the land.
Moses withstood the pressures of a king, a culture, and a rebellious people that we might see him bring deliverance to a people in bondage.
Gideon felt he was the least in Manasseh and the youngest in his father’s house. Yet God called him to be a champion. This champion asked for favor and signs to prove God was talking to him (Judges 6). He did not feel like a champion, but he was called to be one.
John the Baptist prepared the way for the Kingdom of God and helped transition one religious system into the next. Not all champions have a wonderful earthly ending, as John lost his head to a king’s wife, Herodias and her daughter. We read this in Matthew 14:10-11 (NKJV): So he sent and had John beheaded in prison. And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.
One of my favorite champions is Joseph (Genesis 37:3-36). Here was a young man, his father’s favorite, who has a dream in which he sees his family paying homage to him. By telling his family the dream, it stirs up jealousy, hatred, and murder. His brothers plot to destroy him and end up throwing him into a pit to die. Pits in those days were often infested with snakes. Eventually Joseph was found and sold to Midianite traders into slavery and taken to a foreign land called Egypt to serve an Egyptian officer named Potiphar. Joseph became a personal assistant and overseer to everything Potiphar owned.
And this is where Joseph’s championship nature starts bringing him favor. He is successful at everything Potiphar gives him to do. In fact, the Scriptures say Potiphar left everything he owned in Joseph’s charge and with Joseph there, Potiphar did not concern himself with anything except the food that he ate. Genesis 39:6 (NKJV): Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate.
Joseph had become to Potiphar a champion overseer.
But then the plot thickens. Potiphar’s wife decided she wanted Joseph’s assistance as well, only not in a godly way! She tempted Joseph, trying to seduce him and get him to betray his master. Champions in the making often face choices that reveal their character. However, Joseph was not going to lose his integrity for a moment of sexual pleasure. I wonder how many lose their potential blessing because they fail when they are similarly challenged?
To be a champion requires champion thinking, and Joseph knew his integrity was at stake. He chose integrity … and ended up in prison. Sometimes when I think about the people in our prisons today, I wonder if there are many Josephs behind those bars -- champions who choose integrity and therefore loss for a season. Champions never stay down, though, and even in prison, Joseph rose to leadership, becoming a helper to the chief jailer. Eventually Joseph interpreted dreams for two men and those dreams being interpreted lead Joseph to the Pharaoh and into a championship role as second in command.
What can we as Mothers of Nations glean from this story of a champion?
First of all, this champion had an inner knowing that God had a purpose for him. Secondly, his very nature was that of a champion, as it brought him favor everywhere he went. God, who knows all things, was guiding and leading each situation, but Joseph was also doing his part by walking in integrity and honor. He was not lazy or slothful, but diligent, faithful, and consistent. In the end, Joseph’s godly virtues led him to success and to saving a nation from famine.
As we continue, we will examine some of the common characteristics of champions and also look at other examples from the Scriptures. Mothers of Nations, you have been called to be women champions for the Lord!
Dr. Sharon Predovich
