March 18 Reluctant Role Reversals

Judges 4:9 "Very well," Deborah said, "I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the honor will not be yours, for the LORD will hand Sisera over to a woman."

Smith says, "The issue is not what a woman has the ability to do, but what a man is called to do." I would go one step further, it is also a matter of what a woman is called to do.

Maybe this is a pet peeve of mine, about people in general, and I know it started with the fall.  BUT we all care a whole lot more about what we cannot do and what we cannot have than what we can do and what we do have.

God says we are to be our husband's helper. He reserves that word, used in Genesis 2, primarily to speak of himself in the Old Testament. He is Israel's helper! Is he inferior to Israel, subservient in some way? I think not. Instead, he must know all about Israel, and her needs and not only how to meet them but be able to meet them. It's really a big deal to be able to help as the verb is used here. It carries a sense of responsibility and capacity.

So God has called wives to help their husbands, indicating to me that she has to be pretty bright and observant and capable and sensitive to be able to do that. She has to understand what he needs and be able to give what he needs in a way that he can accept it. She must be able to do so without his feeling so diminished that he cannot accept and use her counsel.

As we step outside of marriage, I wonder how important these principles continue to be. Men need our help. We are, as believers, to submit to one another, or in plain language- not try to be the boss of everyone else, but be willing to yield our desires to what is good for the body, and my sister or brother. And in the submission, be helpers.

In relation to the helping thing: this world in recent decades has put a lot of pressure on women, and even Christian women have felt it, to rise to the top, to exercise power.  Something serious has been lost, at least I think so. Is it possible that women (and men) have become more self-centered and less community centered? Have we lost the reality that helping is a calling?