Judith 8:1-8: a reflection

1In those days Judith heard about this. She was the daughter of Merari, the son of Ox, the son of Joseph, the son of Oziel, the son of Elkiah, the son of Ananias, the son of Gideon, the son of Raphaim, the son of Ahitub, the son of Elihu, the son of Eliab, the son of Nathanael, the son of Salamiel, the son of Salasadai, the son of Israel. 2Her husband was Manasses, of her tribe and of her family. He died in the days of barley harvest. 3For he stood over those who bound sheaves in the field, and was overcome by the burning heat, and he fell on his bed, and died in his city Bethulia. So they buried him with his fathers in the field which is between Dothaim and Balamon. 4Judith was a widow in her house three years and four months. 5She made herself a tent upon the roof of her house, and put on sackcloth upon her loins. The garments of her widowhood were upon her. 6And she fasted all the days of her widowhood, except the eves of the Sabbaths, the Sabbaths, the eves of the new moons, the new moons, and the feasts and joyful days of the house of Israel. 7She was beautiful in appearance, and lovely to behold. Her husband Manasses had left her gold, silver, menservants, maidservants, cattle, and lands. She remained on those lands. 8No one said anything evil about her, for she feared God exceedingly.

Before Judith does the bold thing she is remembered for, Scripture pauses to tell us who she already was. A widow of three years and more, she had made a tent on her roof, wore the clothes of mourning, and fasted through her widowhood. She was beautiful and wealthy, left well provided for by her husband, and could have coasted comfortably on all of it. Instead she lived devoted to God, and, the text says, no one spoke ill of her, for she feared God greatly.

Notice that this is all before her famous act. Her courage later did not come from nowhere; it grew out of years of quiet, consistent devotion in obscurity, when no crisis was watching, when there was no glory in it. She feared God in the long, unremarkable stretch of widowhood, and that was the soil her later boldness grew from.

We tend to admire the dramatic moment and overlook the ordinary years that prepared it. But character is built quietly, in the seasons no one is watching, through steady prayer and integrity that earn no applause. If you are in an unremarkable stretch right now, faithful but unnoticed, do not despise it. The hidden devotion of your ordinary days is exactly what will be ready in you when a moment of testing comes. Fear God greatly now, in the quiet, and be formed.

Lord, before any moment of testing, form me in the quiet, ordinary days through steady devotion no one sees. Let me fear you greatly now, so that I am ready when it counts.