Let us look at these 6 hero/heroines who names we do not even know, but whose faith and actions moved the arm of GOD and affected the World even to this day. There are other un-named people in the Bible, but these I have picked out for their goodness, faith, love and faithfulness. They are 5 females and 1 male, so we will start with him first, and in so doing we will “read between the lines to try and fill in some details”.
(1) John 6-5/13: You all know the story of how JESUS with 5 loaves and 2 fishes fed 5,000 men besides women and children. It was Andrew who found the little boy who so generously offered to give what is generally believed to be his lunch (or had his Mother sent him out to buy them for their dinner ?) Here was a boy with a love for JESUS who gave his all. After the multitude were fed, JESUS said, “gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost”, The disciples said, “What shall we do with the 12 baskets full that we gathered up ?” “Why give them to the boy of course, they belong to him” Jesus said. (you got a better answer?) So the little boy got 5 of his mates and with 2 baskets each they rushed to his home and he cried “Mummy. Mummy, look at all the food we’ve got”. Mummy looked and said “You naughty boy, where did you steal all that food?” Then he told her all about it and he and his Mother greatly rejoiced.
The lesson here is that no matter what we give, GOD is able to multiply it and give it back a hundredfold. GOD is almost beside Himself in His desire to Bless us.
Afterwards JESUS was able to preach to the multitude His profound sermon on the Bread of Life which came down from Heaven, all because a little boy gave to GOD.
(2) 2 Kings 5-1/19 This is the story of a little slave girl captured from Israel by the Syrians, who served in the house of the great Army General Naman, who was a leper.
When she heard this, do you suppose the little maid hated her captors and said in her heart “Serves him right for making me a slave?” JESUS said “ it hath been said You shall love your enemy and hate your neighbour, but I say unto, love your enemies”, but this was 1000 years later! This little girl had a heart so full of love that she only felt compassion for her master, and so full of faith that she uttered words that moved the hand of GOD and changed the course of history! GOD hears our words and knows our thoughts! He heard her say “Would GOD my lord were with the prophet in Samaria; he would heal him of his leprosy” “Son, He said, did you hear that? She has invoked our power, we must honour her faith, send an angel down and tell Elisha about it. Now Elisha (like Elijah) was a man of like passions to us, and may be he wasn’t too pleased because a little girl said he would heal the enemy of his people; we believe in hating our enemies, he perhaps said, and who is this child to tell me what to do? The Angel replied, our Great Lord and Master sent me specially to tell you, so you had better do it. Huh, we’ll see, said Elisha, so when this great General came to him, who was used to being waited upon by dignities, Elisha wouldn’t come out, but just sent his servant to say, “Go and wash 7 times in Jordan and you’ll be healed”. Naaman wasn’t used to being spoken to by servants, he expected the prophet to perform some great act and heal him; his hopes were so high that he would be healed and he was bitterly disappointed, and went away in a rage. But just here his greatness shone out: tho’ in a rage he listened to his servants, and took their advice. (I guess if your boss was in a terrible temper you would keep well out of his way!) So he went and washed in muddy old Jordan and was completely healed. Then he returned and this time Elisha came out, the Syrian General was not only healed but was converted and the LORD became his GOD! All because a little maid spoke the Word of Faith and changed the course of history. (Who knows if Naaman had not been planning another invasion of Israel?) JESUS said “there were many lepers in the time of Elisha, but to none of them was he sent but to Naaman the Syrian”, all because of one little maid, whose name we don’t even know! She reached out “and tasted of the powers of the age (of grace) to come. Heb. 6-5. What a lesson in faith for us to learn!
(3) Gen. chs.6 & 7: Here we have the untold story of 4 un-named women whose faithfulness to their husbands and the vision of Noah, in the teeth of all the scorn and contempt that must have been poured upon them, not only by an unbelieving and sinful world, but their own families must have urged them to get away from that crazy old Noah with his ridiculous dreams of a flood (how could that happen in the days when it never rained!) and that huge contraption he and his crazy sons were building on land – over a period of probably 40 years! You can imagine what a trial it must have been to them, yet in the face of it all they remained faithful throughout, we do not read of one word of complaint from them, and the whole human race ever since has been indebted to them, and every person on Earth today is descended from them !! What a lesson in faithfulness, and what an encouragement it should be to us in the face of difficulties, doubt (by us and others) and opposition, sometimes from those who should be our helpers, and always from our Enemy, the Devil and his consorts.
JESUS said, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a Crown of Life”
What a Wonderful GOD we serve. !!!
Alfred Curtis 9/10/2010
100 Bible Studies - Alfred Emmerson Curtis 