When God's Plan Was Aborted...Part 2 of "Women Were Created by God"

This is part 2 of the previous blog post you might want to read first, "Women Were Created by God."

In God’s original design—all of us were created to step into positions of authority where we would judge, decipher, and direct the “game of life” so that it can proceed smoothly.

Part of the joy of living under the authority of God was for all of creation to have full intimate and ready access to our Creator. When we submit ourselves to the authorities that God places over us, our ability to experience intimacy with Him and with each other is greatly increased.

Scripture describes one aspect of the God-man relationship being that they walked together, and that God continued to guide Adam and Eve, and to give them specific instructions—all in the rhythm of His lovingly created order of things.

The root of all the world’s problems is found in Genesis 3 where Adam and Eve chose to disconnect from God. We are our parents’ children for we’ve all chosen to go our own way ever since. God gave us freedom of choice and we use this freedom often to choose poorly. Anytime our choices are contrary to God’s rules and directions, we are choosing to go our way rather than His, and to live out from under the authority He provides.

From Genesis 3 forward, driven by the serpents lie that a life out from under authority is a life of freedom, the glory of creation unravels into ever-expanding chaos. We continue to live in chaos today. Our multiple definitions of “gender identity” are merely one of many indications that the world is suffering terrible confusion.

God describes how chaos will initially reveal itself when he confronts Adam, Eve and the serpent in Genesis 3. Let’s look at the part of that chaos as it pertains to women in Genesis 3:16

To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” NIV

First God says He will greatly increase our pain in childbearing.

No one denies that having babies is hard! To this day, the place you to go to have your baby is called a LABOR and delivery room. But the physical pain of childbearing pales in comparison to the emotional pain that lasts a lifetime. For although our body lets go of that baby our hearts never can. I would venture to say that there are women reading this blogpost who right this very minute are suffering terribly because of the pain one or more of their children are causing them.

I see you. I'm one of you for heaven's sakes!

But more than that God sees you! I know it’s hard—He knows its hard. So Remember this: God’s Got Them!! 

The 2^nd statement by God pertains to what is now, on this side of the Fall, a distortion of our relationship with the very person we were created to fit together with perfectly.

While the increased pain in childbearing is no doubt a curse, I believe the desire we have for our husbands and their “ruling over us” is simply God explaining the repercussions of what our relationship would be like now that we live in a fallen world.

Now that we live separated from God, we have to make up for the void that separation left behind.

Once Adam and Eve were out from under God’s authority, they felt exposed and vulnerable—just like we often feel today. And to make up for the scary place we find ourselves, we develop ego, and to keep our hungry ego large enough to provide a covering over us we feed it with selfishness, independence, co-dependence, pride, people-pleasing, and the list goes on and on.

Because we are desperately seeking to cover ourselves, the way we relate to each other is wrecked. What used to fit together well is now all out of kilter.

"Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

Perhaps God was saying, the security you enjoyed when you were intimately connected with Me and willingly living under the protective shield of my authority, you will try to replace with your husband—you will seek this in him. He’s not going to be like Me, because he’s a mess like you are—so the result of you seeking in him what you’ve lost in Me is that he’s going to rule over you.

Note that any hint of a patriarchal society is NOT rooted in God’s original design. It’s a result of the fall.

I need to pause here and interject that the NT teaches a hierarchical order of authority that God has re-established among those who follow Him. This structure is for the Church; and it works when it functions the way God intends for it to function. This authority structure is put in place so that we can help the world understand Christ’s relationship to His Church. It is outlined in Ephesians 5:21-33.

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

²² Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing^[b] her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸ In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰ for we are members of his body. ³¹ “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”^[c] 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³ However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

When Tom and I were first married we fought biblically. He would say, “The Bible says you’re supposed to submit to me!” To which I would come back with, “Well when you love me like Christ loved the church, I’ll be glad to!”

Sometimes I wanted to crucify him! –but seriously, God created us very different than men. Our differences make us the perfect “other” image bearer of God. A significant difference is that we are much more sensual. And by that, I mean that our emotions run deeper; our intuition is stronger; the compassion we feel and the nurture we give are richer. All of these differences are rooted in our femininity, and they are all reflections of God.

It is all good; in fact God said, it is VERY GOOD!

But because we are softer and sweeter, more gentle and kind—we operate best in places where someone else has to be the ‘bad guy.’

I don’t want to ignore the fact, though, that many women have amazing leadership skills and when they combine their strength with their compassion, they literally move mountains! But in the church and in our homes; for the sake of the living illustration of Christ’s relationship with His bride, we are directed to submit to our husbands.

And in our submitting, our gentleness becomes evident to all.

If we are not careful, our gentleness as women will be lost. If we resist living under the biblical authority that God’s set forth: God, men, women, children…we might find ourselves so busy leading that we have no time or energy left for nurturing.

Of course, we can’t create this God honoring environment ourselves, it is dependent on men stepping into their God-given position of leadership; and then out of a posture of submission to God, they create a protective covering over us that is self-sacrificing rather than self-serving.

Even as I say this, I have to die to the ego in me. Everything in my American woman self says, “I am woman, hear me roar!” And, “I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan…”But at this point I can either revolt against what the Bible says, or I can choose to obey.

I’m working on it… 

BTW, the best picture of biblical submission is this; our church sits on a two lane highway that would be much better if it were a 6 lane highway!! A few miles north of the church where all the traffic flows south in the evenings (and north in the mornings because that is where Nashville is), the highway has been expanded to 4 glorious lanes. But just after it goes over I-840, it quickly narrows back down to 2 lanes. When I shared this message at church they knew exactly what I was talking about: when you’re coming south on HWY 31 and the road is merging back into 2 lanes just past Mars, submission is slowing down a bit to let another car go in front of you instead of speeding up to shut them out.

Submission requires humility and God values humility greatly.