The Bible in 365 Days: A Year with God {Living Outside the Stacks}

Scripture

Genesis 2:18

Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Observation

Every time God finished creating something new, he looked at it and said it was good, meaning that the purpose it was intended to serve had been fulfilled. The sun and moon created light and day, the waters watered the earth to feed and nourish the plants and livestock, etc. The only creation that, upon completion, did not receive the seal of approval was the creation of man. Man, by himself, was incomplete. Man’s purpose was to tend the Garden of Eden and replenish it, tasks he could not fulfill alone. So God had to make the man a partner, “a helper fit for him”.

Application

When I was a teenager, I was a raging feminist. I wanted nothing to do with the traditional concept of marriage and family. I’d grown up in a two parent home, a single parent home, a home with a stepparent, and it just seemed to me the ideal situation was a single parent home.

Everything I knew about the role of a wife and mother indicated that the woman was to be submissive. I didn’t want to be submissive. I wanted to be my own woman, to come and go as I pleased. I wanted to be in control.

Once I got older and started to read and understand the scriptures for myself, I realized three things:

  1. God created Eve from Adam’s side, indicating a partnership.Woman is meant to walk alongside man. She is his helper. Genesis 2:21~24
  2. God made woman strong. The women in the Bible are not passive women. At all. Judges 4:1~24, Proverbs 31:17
  3. Submission goes both ways. It’s not about one partner being above the other; it’s about both partners respecting each other and loving each other. Ephesians 5:22~28

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your clarity in the scriptures and in marriage. Thank you for my husband who views me as his partner. Lord, you know I still struggle with pride, feelings of inadequacy, and fear of losing myself to a skewed concept of marriage. Help me, Lord, to become the wife that you would have me to be and the partner that my husband needs me to be. Guide my words, my thoughts, and my actions. Amen.

Daenel T