The Valiant Warrior, Lesson 4: Proverbs 31:13

 She looks for wool and flax and works with her hands in delight.            Proverbs 31:13

What does tomorrow hold? Indeed, what will we face today? Many of us wonder if we have everything we need. Should there be an emergency, will the contents of our bug-out-bag get us through the crisis or will we be found wanting? We who believe in Y'shua--Jesus have something far better then a bug-out-bag for every emergency. You may wonder how we get what we need. The answer is in both begging and seeking....

This week

1. The Hebrew letter dalet
2. Hebrew word of the week; dawrash (daw-rash'+ah)
3. Review of Lesson 3
4. Lesson 4, She seeks...
5. Conclusion

(1) The letter dalet.   The Hebrew letter dalet pictures a door. Beggars would go to the door to ask for alms (money or food given to the poor) Isn't it amazing that Y’shua-Jesus tells us 

"Blessed (the favor of God) are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.       Matthew 5:3             

Why does God favor the poor? I think it is because we know we are needy and must come to Him with our requests. You may ask, doesn't God favor those who are not poor? I would like to suggest that he wants to give them the same favor, but in not having to worry about basic needs, they do not think they need Him. The English word "poor" means a beggar. Beggars do not have high standing in America. I have heard people proclaim that they do not trust beggars, that beggars only want money for drugs and alcohol, and certainly there are beggars on street corners who are hoping for exactly that. A person who goes begging at the door of God is not necessarily like a beggar on a street corner.  One difference is that they are calling on God who loves them and can meet all their needs instead of a hard-hearted and jaded people without compassion for their needs.      

'Behold, I (Y’shua-Jesus) stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. Revelation 3:20

Did you catch what happened in Revelation 3:20? Read it again. It is the needy who traditionally come to the door to beg, but in this passage of the Revelation, Y’shua-Jesus came to the door looking for those of us who do not realize we are needy because we are distracted by our “stuff.”

If we are to go to the door to beg for what we need, then we should know where the door is. But since we do not even know we are needy (I am speaking to those who believe), Y'shua, the door, comes to us.  Twice in the book of John, chapter 10, Y’shua-Jesus tells us that He is the door. When Jesus tells you something twice you need to pay close attention!

So Jesus said to them again, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.   John 10:7

 "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. John 10:99

What does it mean that Y’shua-Jesus is the door? When we are born again (and not before) we become like Y’shua, who is both Ruach-spirit and flesh. In this world we were born as creatures of flesh. We know exactly what that means. But when we are born again we become Ruach-spirit like the Savior (Y’shua means Savior).

But as many as received Him (Y’shua-Jesus), to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name (Y’shua means salvation),  who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.    John 1:11-13

Jesus answered and said to him (Nicodemus), "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to Him (Y’shua), "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Ruach-Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Ruach-Spirit is Ruach-spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The Ruach-wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Ruach-Spirit."           John 3:3-8

Note: ruach means both spirit and wind. How the word is used in a sentence is how we know which is which.

After we are born again we need to learn what it means to be a child of God. The reason we must go to Y’shua, and the reason he calls himself “the dalet, the door,” is because it is Him who we must go through to be born-again. It is also because He is the only one in all of creation who is able to function in both the physical world (or realm) and the spiritual world.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,  who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.            1 Peter 1:3-5

As children of God we already have an inheritance but we do not see it yet. We are people who have lived all our life in this physical world; we do not always see what we have in Y’shua. We are “needy” and we must go to the door, the dalet, which is Y’shua, to knock and ask for what we need. Since our inheritance comes from the Kingdom of God and is spiritual, we need to seek it even after we ask for what we need from our heart (remember, the heart, the leb, is the house of our shepherd) Y'shua taught us…

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.    Matthew 7:7-8

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.   Mark 11:24

There are times when you need Y’shua’s help just to see (seek) what he has given. He will never trick you with something bad because you did not ask in a careful manner (Luke 11: 11-13), he knows our hearts and knows what we want.

 Dalet is the 4^th letter of the aleph-bet and is represented by the number 4. Four stands for the created world. The fourth commandment is the first of the ten commandments that is for the earth, the natural, physical realm. Even so, the Sabbath is the day set aside for meeting with our heavenly father. Sabbath is a day when physical creatures take a full day of rest to remember the heavenly realm and what pleases our heavenly father. In case I have you thinking that all the help Y’shua gives is spiritual, let me point out that as the number four, dalet points to the physical creation. The door is the connection between the our physical world and the world to come. Y’shua meets your every need, not just your spiritual needs. He loves who we are right now, he cares about what we need and is generous, even (it seems) with us who are too proud to ask. Do not give up seeking the answer to your prayer because it is our chance to show trust in God. We are warned,

"Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away.         Luke 8:13

In other words, they stop seeking, they start thinking that maybe Y’shua does not care about them because it might be too hard to ask, and knock and seek.

(2) Hebrew word of the week dawrash

She looks for wool and flax and works with her hands in delight.     Proverbs 31:13

Dawrash means, to seek, to look for along a well worn path. The path that believers are on is known as “The Way.” Y’shua-Jesus said that He is The Way

Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me (Y’shua).  "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.  "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.  "And you know The Way where I am going."  Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know The Way?"  Jesus said to him, "I am The Way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.          John 14:1-6

This is really interesting, it stirs my soul with excitement about my Y’shua, but what does all of this have to do with The Valiant Warrior? If you look at today’s verse, you can see that she is a woman who “seeks.”

(3) In Lesson 3 we learned that the Ruach, the Spirit of God, brings gifts from Heaven to his people. The Ruach is not like the dark spirit we have come to know as Santa who tickles our lust with materialism, but the Ruach is the very breath of our heavenly father. The Torah of God, that word spoken on Sinai and confirmed on Golgotha which is our life, comes to life because the Almighty breathes life into it with his own breath-The Ruach ha kodesh (In English you know this breath of life as the Holy Spirit). We learned from Barnabus that we can trust the Ruach of God in a redeemed persons heart even when what we know of a person is scary. A person, no matter who they once were, with a testimony of Y’shua (Salvation) is a person we can fellowship with.

(4) Lesson 4 She seeks... Wool and flax are used to make fabric, so what does this have to do with her being a seeker? What does it have to do with what we have learned from the picture language of the dalet?

The Torah of the Almighty (Law in English) clearly teaches that God is not pleased when two specific fabrics are mixed or twisted together. Those two fabrics happen to be wool and flax. Flax is also known as linen. I do not know why the Almighty made this commandment, a few people have tried to explain it to me, in the end I just accept it by faith. (Leviticus 19:19 and Deuteronomy 22:9-11 are the passages just in case you are wondering)

There are two exceptions to the instruction on not mixing yarn or fabric. The first is the wearing of tzitzit (tassels) which are used to help us remember the Torah of God. They can be made of all linen threads or all wool threads or they can be made of white linen with blue wool yarn. So remembering the Torah, which is The Truth, is one of the times we are allowed to mix wool and flax-linen (look back at John 14:1-6 to see who is The Truth) When The Virtuous Warrior is praying, it is right for her to “seek flax and wool and work with her hands” (running her fingers over the tzitzit)

The other exception to mixing wool and flax-linen is the High Priest’s garment. His clothing is to be made of pure white linen wrapped with a girdle (a really long, wrap-around belt) woven with purple, blue and scarlet wool. Are you thinking, “We do not have a high priest anymore, what does the priest’s garments have to do with seeking wool and flax? The book of Hebrews tells us that we do have a high priest, but it is not a son of Aaron, He is the Son of the Almighty.

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet  without sin.       Hebrews 4: 14-15

By now you know that being a Valiant Warrior, a Proverbs 31 woman, means that you are in this world but not of it. We who are born again call The Kingdom of Heaven our home (John 17: 13-17) The Valiant Warrior is born again and comes to the dalet, the door, which is Y’shua-Jesus. She seeks him as her high priest in prayer. She absolutely knows that He hears her prayers and is delighted to provide what she needs to function as his beloved ambassador in the world.

She is a woman of prayer, a spiritual beggar, who comes to the dalet, the door to the Kingdom of Heaven which is Y’shua-Jesus. She seeks her Beloved, her High Priest, Y’shua-Jesus, for everything she needs. Hers may not be a life of luxury, but she takes pleasure in what she does (the Hebrews teach that pleasure is the meaning of “works with her hands”)

(5) Conclusion When Y’shua-Jesus walked on the earth he taught us that the first thing we should seek is The Kingdom of Heaven, He would take care of the rest. (Matthew 6:33). Pray for each other. Sometimes it takes a special kind of “seeking” to find what you have asked for. This is what Paul prayed for us.

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might     Ephesians 1:18-20

Mrs. Hagerty, October 6, 2014
Updated December 2, 2015 MsH