When did it become more important to manage a company than to manage a home? Why is a woman seen as contributing to society only when she does the exact same things as a man? Does a woman’s value as a person increase because she is a CEO of a company instead of a family? Does God value men or women based upon their profit results or the number of people they command? Or is that a cultural thing? And are we buying into this?
The “Model” Woman
Maybe you have bought into it if the following description is your concept of a “model woman”: high position in a company, wonderful childcare for the kids, able to handle negotiating a very high pressure contract while leaving at lunch to meet her child for a field trip, then make it home and put dinner together, enjoy family time, get the kids to bed, and relax with her executive husband. She is the epitome of composure and contentment!
Do you really know any women like that? Really? Or, do you know women who are clamoring to achieve all of that simultaneously while families are in chaos and confusion? And, if the woman is striving to achieve all of that, what are men doing—playing video games, watching sports, and drinking beer?
God’s Design for Women
God made an important statement by choosing to make Eve out of Adam’s rib. She was truly a part of him – “bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh” – and was close enough to him to be his intimate ally. Together as husband and wife, they were to be coregents over creation. And this level of closeness and “sameness” would be the cure for his (and her) loneliness.
Genesis 2:18 specifically states that she was to be Adam’s helper. Oh no! That is where the “rub” is. See…God does view Adam more highly, right?
Wrong! God does not place any value distinction upon either male or female in defining their roles. It is only our society that somehow distorts the role of a helper into some kind of inferior position. God did not.
A Helper is a Divine Role
What God said distinctively about the first woman – and all women in many other places in Scripture – is that they were designed to be helpers. The original word for “helper” is EZER (in Heberw) and it is used 21 times in the Old Testament alone. Sixteen of those refer to God. A couple of them are found in Psalm 33:20 and Psalm 70:5. The helper in these verses is God Himself! Just as God is our ezer, women have the privilege of being an ezer to their husbands and others! God helps us because… well, because we NEED help! And in some unique way He designed women to display that part of His character to the world.
True Value
Our culture claims to exalt and liberate women from antiquated roles. Here is a question for those that have bought into the world’s value system: “How is a woman exalted when her value is found in doing everything that a man typically does?” Isn’t this simply elevating the typical function of men? To me this sounds like good old fashioned male chauvinism that is alive and well in “modern society.”
The role that God designed for a wife is so undervalued today. But it is not so with God. I pray that understanding the privilege of displaying part of His character in such a unique way will motivate women to revel in their design and use it for God’s glory!
[Contributions by Janet Aucoin]