The helper!

I was having pre-marital counseling for a couple about to get married and we where talking about the gender roles involved, specifically God's intention of creating male and female in His own image and what that practically means, the topic and focus of our talk was the wifes role as a helpmeet as described in Genesis 2:18 saying

“then the Lord God said it is not good that the man should be alone; I will make a helper fit for him”

The confusion in this conversation was the same as we often hear in other situations of pastoral care, and it stems from our understanding of the word helper as someone subordinate or inferior to the one being helped.

But when we challenge the word to find it’s proper meaning from the Hebrew text, the word "Eezer" helper or help-meet, refers to someone who comes to our assistance in times of distress, someone who stands with us supporting us in the storm.

We also see that it is used 16 times more throughout the old testament, and every time it is about God relating to man coming to his aid when in distress or trouble!

So unless we claim that God is subordinate to man when He is our helper, we can’t say that wives should be subordinate or inferior to their husbands based on the text in Genesis.

Instead we should embrace the meaning of helper in relation to God as the one who upholds, saves and sustains His people. So when we apply that meaning of helper to our wives as being part of Gods divine plan and design where He reveals Himself to the world, then we also see God Himself revealed to us in our wives.

Today we pray that you Lord will humble us to see our wives as reflections of you,

not as mere servants but as our support and stability in this chaotic world.
Glory be to God, in Jesus name we pray. 

Mike Petersen