Women: Their Story I want to introduce the men to the women. I know you think you know women, but you don’t. Every person is a deep well, but a woman is a bottomless ocean. She is a mystery. This is by divine design. (A word about stereotyping. We all know exceptions to the way women and men are naturally. But exceptions are just that – exceptions, to the rule. God made men and women different. Vive la difference, is what I say. If that offends you, I am sorry. I am just trying to teach in broad Scriptural strokes.) I. She is the Crown of Creation. To learn what and why a woman is we must go to God’s word, for He alone knows the truth about women. He made them. He began with Eve: the wife of our daddy and the mother of us all. She is the pinnacle of the creative genius of God. She is the climax of all of creation. After He made each part of creation He said, “It is good.” After He made man He said, “It is not good… something is missing.” After He made woman He said, “It is very good.” She is the last thing God created. (One man droned, “He should have made her first, when He was fresh.”) And as the last thing, woman is “the crescendo, the final, astonishing work of God. Creation comes to a finish not with Adam, but with Eve! She is the Master’s finishing touch.” (Stasi Eldridge in Captivating, p.25. Much of what is in this lesson comes from her book, which every Christian man and woman should read ASAP.) Eve becomes the crown of creation. Not an afterthought. Creation reached its zenith in woman. That makes her very special. God plus man equals incomplete. He needs woman. We are not talking physical form here; we are talking about her person, her soul, her being. That is what she is. Here’s the why. God made woman to bear His image. “God created man in His own image: male and female He created them.” (Gen.1:27) She too bears the image of God, but in a uniquely feminine way. What does she tell us about God? That is her why for existence. One, she tells us that God is a relational being; He has a heart for romance. Who can deny that a woman is relational to the core? She cares more about relationships than anything else. She is full of drama. People are important to her: how they feel, if they are hurt, communication, and a thousand other relational things. Most women define themselves by their relationships: I am a mother, sister, daughter, bestie. You can’t even compare Father’s Day to Mother’s Day. This may be the most important thing we learn about God. He longs for relationship with us. The whole story of the Bible is the love story between God and His people. He yearns for us. He is full of love and compassion for us. A woman wants to be loved. So does God. More than anything else God longs to be loved. He wants to be sought after, desired, pursued. Does that sound like a woman? “I have loved you with an everlasting love,” declares God in Jer.31:3. His great commandment is for us to love Him above everything else with all our hearts. This is not some cold calculated legalistic command. This is the very heartbeat of God. He loves us and wants us to love Him back. This is the very essence of Christianity - God can be known and you can have an intimate relationship with your heavenly Bridegroom. Eve is God’s message to the world in feminine form. “So God endows Woman with certain qualities that are essential to relationship, qualities that speak of God. She is inviting, vulnerable, tender, merciful. She is also fierce and fiercely devoted.” God is jealous in His love for us. Secondly, she has a purpose not unlike the purpose of God. We see this in the first two chapters in Genesis. It might surprise you that when God gave man the exciting adventure of subduing the world and all the creatures in it, Eve was standing right there alongside of him. The commission was given to them both. “God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; exercise dominion…’” (Gen.1:28) They are to do this together. She has an active, exciting, participating role to play in the adventure of life on this planet. We are all familiar with this word about Eve’s purpose in creation, “I will make him (Adam) a helper (helpmate)…” (Gen.2:18) The Hebrew word used here (ezer) is used 20 other places and in every other instance it refers to God. “Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.” (Ps.33:20) The famous stone is called by this name: Ebeneazer, which means “the Lord has helped us.” So, it is no small insignificant role the woman plays. Another quote from Eldridge: “That longing in the heart of a woman to share life together as a great adventure – that comes straight from the heart of God, who also longs for this. He does not want to be an option in our lives. He does not want to be an appendage, a tagalong. Neither does any woman. God is essential. He wants us to need Him – desperately. Eve is essential. She has an irreplaceable role to play. And so you’ll see that women are endowed with fierce devotion, an ability to suffer great hardships, a vision to make the world a better place.” Lastly, she unveils the beauty of God. God is beautiful. And His beauty has nothing to do with His physical form. He is beautiful beyond description. Check Him out in Revelation 4:3,6, where He is described by dazzling similes: “The One sitting on the throne was like brilliant gemstones. And the glow of an emerald circled his throne like a rainbow… Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal.” This desire to reveal her beauty is in the heart of every women; that is why she adorns herself like the God who wears a crown upon His head. “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord.” (Ps.27:4) God made woman beautiful, because He is beautiful. The most beautiful thing God ever made is a woman. Who can deny this? Eve speaks of something differently to the world than Adam does. He speaks of God’s strength. She speaks of His beauty. In her we see the image of God’s mysterious beauty. What is this beauty all about? Or rather, why is woman made beautiful? The simple answer is so that we might desire her. That is the longing of every woman’s heart of hearts. She wants to be noticed. Not by everybody. She’s not a harlot. She doesn’t want to cast her pearls before swine. In this she is like God who said, “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” (Jer.29:13) God does not throw Himself at any passerby. If you would know Him you must love Him; you must seek Him with your whole heart. A woman loves to be sought after, pursued, romanced. God made her this way and that is why He made her beautiful. Every woman is beautiful because she bears the image of God. She doesn’t have to manufacture it, get it from a beauty salon, have plastic surgery or breast implants. She doesn’t have to enlarge her lips or shrink her hips. Beauty is an essence that is given to her at creation. There is a radiance hidden in her for anyone who will take the trouble to find it. Hebrew scholars tell us that Adam was overwhelmed when he first saw Eve (Gen.2:23). She didn’t look like a cow or a pig or a dog. She was beautiful. Desirable. II. She is Wounded But the tragic reality is, few women experience all of this in their lives. She has been wounded. The sins of her mother Eve have been visited upon her. Many of her wounds are self-inflicted. And guys can be such clods, sinners, so insensitive to her needs. And these wounds come with messages from the evil one to her heart. You are not beautiful, you are not worth pursuing, you will never have the life you have desired and envisioned since the time you were a little girl. And the woman seeks after fulfillment in the wrong places with the wrong people and in the wrong ways. She thinks if she only had a man, or a certain career, or financial security, or another hair color or piece of jewelry or outfit, or a few less pounds, or children... Her fear of being wounded and broken again prevents her from being free, from being the beautiful person God created her to be. She is scared to trust. Afraid to be vulnerable. Her wounds leave deep scars of rejection and worthlessness. She is never good enough. She feels lonely, like nobody understands. She needs a Savior. III. She Has a Savior What she really needs is the God who alone understands her perfectly and loves her unconditionally. His name is Jesus. He understands because He made you. He loves you with all your flaws and mistakes and sins. He is the One who has been pursuing you since before you were born. He is the healer of all your hurts and the fulfillment of all your dreams. He loves you. I don’t mean He loves you like in some religious way. He loves you passionately and wants to ravish you with His divine kisses and be intimate with you. Of all the metaphors given in the Bible to describe God’s relationship with His people (clay-potter, sheep-shepherd, master-servant, father-child, friends) nothing comes close to the breathtaking one where God says He is our Bridegroom (Mt.9:15; 25:1-10; Jn.3:29) and you are His bride. And apparently this is the whole goal of redemption, the marriage supper of the Lamb. He loves you as a lover loves. Like Rocky loved Adrian. Like William Wallace loved Murron. Like Jack loved Rose (Titanic). This doesn’t need to wait for a man. A woman radiates beauty when she knows she is loved. You ARE loved, by the greatest lover of all. Picture yourself as the heroin and Christ as the lover in each of these movies. He has been romancing you from the beginning. Every sunset was His love note to you. Every child born of your womb was His smile of approval. The story of your life is the story of the passionate pursuit of your heart by the King who is greater than Solomon, the One who knows you best and loves you most. Every song you love, every laugh, these are all God’s versions of flowers and chocolates and candle light dinners. And the greatest of all is His love for you that sent Him to His death (Rm.5:8) Wallace didn’t die for his wife; he killed others for his wife. He died for freedom. But Jesus died for YOU! He died to save you from sin, and restore the beauty and adventure you were made for.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 20:51:54 +0000
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