Thesis 30- We must help our husbands as wives.
Long before the serpent first made his appearance in the garden, long before Adam and Eve fell into sin, God pronounced judgment. Having assessed His own creative work, God at each day’s end “saw that it was good.” But in Genesis 2:18 we read that God saw something that was not good. It was not good that man should be alone. God’s solution was simple enough- He would make a helper suitable to Adam.
In making a helper suitable for Adam, God endued Eve with the same value, the same dignity, the same image that He bestowed upon Adam. That she was made to help him did not mean that she was made less than him. That she is his equal, however, doesn’t mean that she wasn’t made to be a helper to him.
The important question is, she was made to be a helper for what? She was not made simply to cook his meals or iron his shirts. She was not made to make him comfortable, or to satisfy whatever whims come to his mind. The help Adam needed is not difficult to discern. Adam had been given only one task. Because Adam was made for God, it is God alone who determines his purpose. God had called Adam to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it, to rule over the birds of the air, the fish of the sea and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. Theologians call this the dominion mandate, God’s call on Adam and Eve to manifest God’s glory through imaging His authority in ruling over all things. This is what Eve was made for, to help Adam in this glorious calling.
God did not make Eve that she might be self-actualized. Neither did He make her that Adam might be self-actualized. God made Eve for the same reason that He made Adam, but in a different role. She was made to be a helper, not to man, not to men, but to her husband. A wife ought to begin each day asking herself this simple question, “How can I be a help to my husband today as we set about our calling to rule over all things?” A wife ought to end each day giving thanks for the opportunity to so serve the kingdom of God.
The serpent is yet more crafty than any of the beasts of the field. It is his delight to mislead, to encourage all of us to fail to trust God, to find His calling on our lives to be not enough. He still tempts us to be as God, knowing good and evil. But the Seed of the woman has come to crush the head of the seed of the serpent. He has come to beautify His bride, as she serves as a help suitable to Him as He brings all things under subjection. Let us pray that He will, by His grace, encourage wives to fulfill their calling, to no longer heed the hissing of the serpent. And may husbands and wives together, the bride of Jesus, honor and obey Him in all that we do.
Thank you for writing this both encouraging and instructive article. I am a life changed by His Word and my calling. Thankful to walk alongside you. “ God did not make Eve that she might be self-actualized. Neither did He make her that Adam might be self-actualized. God made Eve for the same reason that He made Adam, but in a different role. She was made to be a helper, not to man, not to men, but to her husband. A wife ought to begin each day asking herself this simple question, “How can I be a help to my husband today as we set about our calling to rule over all things?” A wife ought to end each day giving thanks for the opportunity to so serve the kingdom of God.”
Thank you my love, not just for writing this encouraging word but for walking alongside me.