Following up on his message from last week, my husband shared another powerful Word for women on yesterday. Digging deeper into the alarming identity crisis of many women and girls in this day, he pointed out an interesting observation about Eve. Before the deception of the serpent, she was referred to only as woman. She represented everything that was true, purposeful, exceptional and valuable about being woman. She was pure. She was whole. She was complete. She was certain of who she was and her position in the earth.
And then there was sin….
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden…… 20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. Genesis 3
Take notice that it wasn't until after the fall that Eve was specifically called and identified as the wife of Adam. Until then, she was simply woman; God's daughter and perfect creation placed in the earth to fulfilled His destiny for mankind. After sin, God called her Adam's wife, and Adam gave her the name Eve. This level of specificity became necessary because of the temptations, deception and false identification of woman that would inevitably result from sin.
Because of sin, it became critically important that Eve's identity was clear and specific. What God knew was that if she didn't have her own sense of identity, sin would define her then misappropriate her gifts & anointing. The same is true of you and me today. All types of things attempt to define us. Sin, our mistakes/failures, our successes, our education level, our status in society, our career/income level, our relationships, our titles, our bodies, our reflections in the mirror, even our own finite thinking about what a women is supposed to be, you name it. There is no end to list of people, places and things where we seek to find ourselves & our identities. This was never meant to be!
Eve was made a woman by God first, and then became Adam's wife and then became the mother of all living things. Before she was anything to anyone else, she was first God's woman. Adam didn't make her a woman! He only recognized her as a woman created BY God FOR him. Adam was only able to recognize her after she had been with God!
Arguably, this is perhaps the most important and often misidentified principle of womanhood in this day. Today, we have babies while we are young and unmarried. We get married when we are unhealed and undeveloped. We have children out of wedlock and then marry the man simply because he is the father. What a mess we have made of God's divine order of womanhood!
My friend, you will never get your womanhood from your man or your children. No relationship will make you happy. No man can make you feel secure, confident and purposeful. No amount of "things to do" for your children will give you complete fulfillment. That is between you and God. Long, endless and empty is the quest to find your fulfillment in a man or your children. I know. I've been there. I know what its like to invest all that I am in a man and into my children, trying to find definition, purpose and fulfillment. And I know what its like to have it all taken away so that I was left with only God. It was then that I found Nicole.
I've learned through hard and tough experiences that long before I can be a wife to my husband or a mother to my children, I must first be a whole, healed, healthy (spiritually, mentally & emotionally), happy, confident woman between me and God. No one else can give me Nicole, and no one else can take her away. In my relationship with God is where I find my greatest ME. So will you!
When you get with God, you will find the real you, without any pretense, masks, false confidence, hiding places, defensive barriers, trust issues, or any other effect of sin. You will find a specially crafted masterpiece. After all, you're the only you He created. You are His special girl. He created you just the way you are, and He does not make mistakes. How awesome is that?!
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