God's gift

In any story, when we jump into the middle of it we lose understanding.  It is always best to go back to the beginning to gain understanding.   The "big picture" is easier to take in when we stand back just a bit.

In my journey to learn about this role of wife, I needed to go back to the beginning.   What was going on when God created woman...what was He thinking?   When I read the familiar story a little more slowly and paid a bit more attention to the words.....I found a gift tucked inside.

In Genesis 2 the Word tells us that (v18) Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him."   These first couple of chapters seem to be written in a one step forward two steps back kinda way.   The contrast between this discovery of "it is not good" and all His other proclamations of "it is good" is worth making note of.   If verse 18 is the step forward, 19 and 20 seem to be the two steps back, providing us with extra details....(v19) out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.”

 The Creator of the universe brought things to his creation to name.....even in the first days the Lord has a servant heart....He could have let Adam wander about, discovering and naming things as he went.   God could have walked him through, giving him a tour and telling Adam what He had named it all....but He didn't.    He brought the creatures to him to see what he would call them.   In that moment, The Lord delighted in Adam giving names to all things....without correction.    There was nothing to correct because nothing had been named at that point but that in and of itself is huge.  God didn't take His title of Creator and name everything because He could.....He gave that honor away actively placing man in a dominant place in the world.

Moving on......I had to stop and ponder that one...(v20) The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field.  But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.  The scriptures go on to tell us how God placed Adam in a deep sleep, removing a rib and creating a woman out of it.    

 I must ponder a moment again.....I wonder why it was a rib....does it have anything to do with the proximity to man's heart?  .....is that why we feel the most safe and secure when we are pulled close in the arms of the man we love....drawn back to the origin of where He first took us from....under his arm and near his heart.  

 Back to verse 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.  Again He brings His creation to the man.   This time it was a very special creation...one created FOR him, FIT for him......tailored especially for his needs.   Man responds....(v23) 

“This at last is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called Woman, 

because she was taken out of Man."

Again the Lord lets Adam name His creation.   In all the years of learning this story, the many times of reading it I never really got that piece.   We are God's gift to man. 

The Hebrew word translated as "helper" is 'ezer.  ...a fit helper is one who compliments the other, supplying what the other lacks.....it is not about equality but a matching set….. 

We fit together…like these salt and pepper shakers.  Carved from one piece of wood, they fit together beautifully.  Separately they are each beautiful but one is not a copy of the other….the curves are not the same…the grain is not the same…the inside was not purposed for the same contents…..   

A gift….

Given to man.

Custom fit to his needs.

Of all creation….woman was created differently.   Every other creature that moved and breathed was created from the dust of the ground (Gen. 2:19).   Woman was created out of man.  Created for man…..to help him.  She was presented to him as something special….like a treasure he did not know he needed or wanted……I can only imagine how happy he was to see her.   Can you imagine how she was received by him?   No evil existed….no negativity or selfishness….just simple exuberance over a gift that cures any ache of loneliness he may have had….extra help to rule a world that was handed to him….not a city, not a state or country….but the world.  What an amazing moment that must have been…..and to top it off he stood in the presence of the Lord.  …didn’t know what he had until it was gone…

My favorite moment in any wedding is when everyone stands up to watch the bride walk down the aisle.   I love to watch the groom instead…..to watch his face glow with adoration and his chest swell with pride.   Adam’s face must have been a sight to behold….

We know the honeymoon didn’t last long but I think it’s a gift we can all reclaim.  A moment to hold onto.  

The Hebrew term for man is “ish” and for woman is “ishshah”……funny as they may sound, it further reflects how interconnected we are…

Blessings, the Mrs.