Do you ever feel like you are getting a raw deal? That in life you always seem to pick the short straw. Put simply, that it all just seems a bit unfair.

This is how I felt when I discovered that I had to write a podcast about 1 Timothy Ch2 vs 8-15. It would be great if you paused, read them now, and then carried on listening.

REFLECTION

Not only do these verses seem to bristle with injustice; but back in January I was asked to do a podcast on wives submit to your husbands. Talk about getting the short straw – this was just downright unfair. I sat at my desk, bent over my Bible and wept. After my colleagues had offered tissues and sympathy, I went for a walk. God and I connect much better when I can get outdoors.

As I walk in Creation, I find myself more in step with my Creator. So perhaps it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that as I pounded the streets of Crookes, ranting in my head about this raw deal, that God reminded me of the Garden of Eden. In that garden Adam and Eve are both made in the image of God, and are equal before Him. And God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. There is no raw deal in Eden….it is ideal.

Being reminded of God’s divine, original plan for me as a woman, knowing that my true purpose and identity is found in Him has helped me to re-read this section of Scripture with fresh eyes. With that in mind, today’s podcast is going to focus on verse 8,

“I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.”

In verse 8, Paul speaks to Christian men everywhere and calls them to do something. He calls them to lift up their hands and get stuck in with the work of prayer. This is not a raw deal. Right from that first day in Eden, God’s design for humans was that they should work. In fact the Bible mentions working or toiling 480 times. However, it would seem that the men in Ephesus thought otherwise, approaching this task with arguments and disputes. Some translations say they are waving fists at their enemies. I was at a seminar last week, where Tom Butler from the Message Trust was talking about testosterone, and its ability to increase anger, hunger and the desire to fight in both boys and men. He posed the question about how we can handle this, or channel it into something positive, in our churches. How fantastic it would be to have a church community full of men channelling their passions into an adventurous life of faith – hungry for God, taking on spiritual battles in prayer, and encouraging other men to do the same.

When Paul calls men to pray, he is literally instructing men to stand up, as this was the posture of prayer at the time. Eyes open, looking up to heaven, hands raised. But it can also be seen as metaphorical. Stand up, get engaged, get involved, be present, do the work of God! Last Sunday my son Jacob was part of the worship team. As I looked across at him, with his hands raised in prayer and worship, I was so thankful for Alan, Dan, Dave, Liam, Tom, Ste, Duncan, Richie, Mike, and other men, who have stood up, got involved, been present, worked for God, and prayed for my son. But right now, 90% of the volunteers in Kids Church are women, and there are only 2 men on the Eden team. In the UK as a whole, church congregations are estimated to be 70% female, 30% male. Statistics suggest that in the last 20 years 50% of men under the age of 30 have left the church. More than ever in our society we need godly men to stand up, to get engaged, to lift their hands to God in prayer, to cry out to him for their own generation, and for their children and grandchildren’s generations too.

“That’s all very well,” I hear you say, “But I am a woman listening to this, reading this Bible passage…..I’ve got my hair in a plait, and I’m wearing pearls……What is God saying to me in all this?”

The full answer would probably take another podcast or two,