The King's Daughter—Attention Please

Experiences inspired this article from my journey of discovering the eternal love of God that set me free. This particular piece will discuss how God considers His daughters precious and valuable.

These lessons were written and arranged for a women's conference that our church hosted.

This study centers on the following portion of Scripture.

Kings’ daughters are among Your honorable women; At Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir. Listen, O daughter, Consider and incline your ear; Forget your own people also, and your father’s house; So the King will greatly desire your beauty; Because He is your Lord, worship Him. And the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift; The rich among the people will seek your favor. The royal daughter is all glorious within the palace Her clothing is woven with gold. She shall be brought to the King in robes of many colors; The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to You. With gladness and rejoicing they shall be brought; They shall enter the King’s palace.

— Psalm 45:9-15

One of the most significant challenges of women sometimes is to believe that they are loved. Many of us have spent a good portion of our lives attempting to convince ourselves that we are truly loved through the dramatics of our relationships.

I have concluded on this leg of my journey that true eternal, everlasting love can only realize through a relationship with our Father in Heaven through His Son Jesus Christ.

Some of us have entered into that relationship but have not truly comprehended our positions as King's Daughters and have not truly captured the emotional depth of His love. This understanding is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning this.

. . . that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

— Ephesians 3:17

This particular lesson involves our part of our relationship with the Father and will detail our obligation to listen to Him and value what He says. Listening to the Father is the real heart of worship.

Verse ten of Psalm 45 begins with an invitation to "Listen."

"Listen. Consider and Incline Your Ear."

Psalm 45:10

In Hebrew, there is a portion of Scripture called the "Shema," which has to do with listening or hearing. The "Shema" meaning "listen" is this:

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one."

— Deuteronomy 6:4

If we could personalize this for a moment, we may interpret that God is requesting our individual, undivided attention. He is calling us to listen to Him and no other.

Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.

— Deuteronomy 4:39

Another worthy note on the word "Shema" is that it comes with the implication of obedience. It is not passive listening. It requires involvement on our part with the assumption that something valuable, important, and relevant is about to be said.

"Listen. Consider and Incline Your Ear"

Psalm 45:10

The next word "consider" in Hebrew is the word most of the time translated as "see" and means to "look at," "view," and "behold." This word can also mean to "choose," "prefer," or "aim at."

Not only is God asking us to come and hear Him, but He also wants us to turn our faces toward Him and look at Him and see ourselves as reflected in His eyes. We are the apple of His eye. Does He have a place in our field of vision? He invites us to come and take a look.

It also means to perceive and understand, learn, and know. When our perceptions have been trained otherwise through experience and circumstance, God's love is something we must learn.

This word can imply to enjoy and live in what is seen. The evidence of what we are looking at plays out in the field of our lives. Do our lives reflect those of "dearly loved children" (Eph 5:1)

Gesenius' Lexicon defines it as "to be pleased with what you see and to have regard and respect for it and to choose it for yourself." His truth about us must be chosen. Many times, we are waiting for something to fall on us or for it just to happen. Here He tells us we must choose it.

Brown Driver Briggs Lexicon also implies the idea of expecting.

The Hebrew word picture for "see" is descriptive of these principles:

The first letter "resh' in the Hebrew word for "consider" or "see" used in this word is a picture of a person's head and can imply what is first and priority. What we see takes precedence. To look at Him makes Him a priority.

‘You shall have no other gods before Me.

— Deuteronomy 5:7

To "see" Him, He must be the only one we see.

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.

— Luke 14:26

I honestly believe this verse is about priority. God is to be more important to us than any other relationship we have. And God's perspective is the one that should matter the most.

The second letter of the Hebrew word "consider" is "aleph" and is a picture of an ox. This pictograph indicates something strong and leading. We are strongly driven by what we see or perceive. I can't help but think of the explanation of how Eve succumbed to the temptation in the garden.

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

— Genesis 3:6

She was led by what she fixed her eyes upon.

Visuals are a powerful influence. What we see has a profound effect on what we do, how we feel, and who we are. Dr. Lynell Burmark, a Ph.D. Associate at the Thornburg Center for Professional Development and writer of several books and papers on visual literacy said,

". . . unless our words, concepts, ideas are hooked onto an image, they will go in one ear, sail through the brain, and go out the other ear. ¹

Seeing is believing. God is asking us to see what it is He is saying about and to us.

"Aleph" also represents the "will." Again we see here that we choose what and how we see.

"Hey" is the final letter of the word "consider," It is a picture of a window symbolizing to reveal or open something.

it also makes the word female because it is at the end of the word. "Hey" as a prefix indicates "what comes from." Our perceptions come from how we "see" things. I believe He desires and invites us to come that he might reveal to us a more accurate and correct perspective.

After the fall, the image of God in humankind was hidden. Through the forgiveness of sin, in relationship to Jesus Christ, what was hidden can now be revealed. We are no longer subject nor victim to circumstance, experience, or the opinions of others.

But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

— I Corinthians 2:9-11

The whole idea of being restored to our positions in paradise involves uncovering what has been hidden, and that is us created in the image of Him.

Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law.

— Proverbs 29:18

We looked a bit at this verse in "God's plan and purpose for us" and how, when we can't see the value or the purpose, we become aimless and thoughtless towards life, relationships, and self.

His final plea is to

. . . incline your ear . . .

To incline our ear is to stretch it out and extend it to Him. To turn our ear towards Him implies that we are reaching for what is being said. When I listen to something I desperately want to hear, whether it is music, a message, or a loved one's voice, I turn my ear towards them that I might catch everything. I don't want to miss a thing.

Hearing and seeing are vital to our comprehension. Studies suggest that people retain 10% of what they heard from an oral presentation, 35% from a visual presentation, and 65% from a visual and verbal presentation.²

Isn't it significant that He implores us to do both here and see? He is interested in our comprehension of His love for us.

that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

— Ephesians 3:17-19

(1) michaelsearles.blogspot.com/2010/10/3-steps-to-billion-dollar-business.html

(2) osha.gov/doc/outreachtraining/htmlfiles/traintec.html