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February 6, 2007

Created to be a Helpmate

A woman was created to be a helpmate. This statement alone makes many women put up their defenses. So much that we almost don't dare talk about it. When is the last time you have heard a sermon or message about being your husband's help meet? Me, a help meet. What about my life, what about my wishes, what about my dreams? Remember in Genesis when God said about Adam, "I will make a help meet suitable for him. The Hebrew word for help meet is ezer (aid; help) which is derived from the root ezar whcich means to 'surround'. When I looked this up I thought, "What a beautiful picture. I want to surround my husband with help." We were created to help man. Man and woman together reflect the image of God. God didn't have to take Adam's rib to make Eve. He had created someone out of dust once, He could have done it again! So why did He do this? Was it for the word picture, that because we were created from man, we would have an inner desire to be restored to the side of man? To be dependant on him? We were created to be a helper for man, it's part of our natures. The relationship between man and woman is a picture of Christ and the Church. (Eph. 5:23) Women need men, wives need husbands, daughters need fathers, the way that the Church needs Christ. So then the infamous question. So does that mean in God's eyes, women are inferior to men? No, we are equal in God's eyes (see Galatians 3:28) But this doesn't mean that our roles are the same. Just as a pastor is just as important in God's eyes as a mother who changes diapers all day. But the roles are different. So why do most women strive so hard to be the same as man, and have the same roles? Adam was created to be the leader, Eve his helper. Eve let herself be deceived by the serpent. Adam didn't protect Eve. They both stepped out of their roles. And interstingly, "in Adam all die" (1Cor.15:22), not in Eve. Because Adam couldn't escape his responsibility as leader nor Eve in her role as a helper. Trying to be independent of man goes against the very thing that God created us for. Some women spend all their lives trying to attract men, there are feminists who convince themselves they don't need men (but even Betty Friedan, one of America's first feminists spent her whole professional life advancing the agenda of Karl Marx) and there are other women who understand that submitting to God means submitting to the authority God has placed over them. Where do you come in? Do you (and your daughters) understand why God created you? Are you more influenced by the image the world offers on a woman's role or the role that God gives us in the Bible? I challenge you today to search your heart, and the scriptures to find out!

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