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Ep 102: The Dominion of Women (Gen 2:18-25).
Prayer
Lord God, our loving Heavenly Father, your ways are altogether wise. Please open our eyes to see the beauty of your designs and purposes. Please help us to see and walk in your design for men and women. May we be freed from the false divisions of our age, please give us a heart of understanding. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Reading
Genesis 2:18-25.
“Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19. Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”
Meditation
The woman, alongside the man, was made for dominion. From the beginning, man was called to rule the earth and subdue it. God gave Adam a divine commission to cultivate, to dig, to build, to nurture, and to grow. His task was to develop the world, to shape creation through labor and ingenuity, to advance technology, and to multiply until the wide and wild world became a fruitful garden. Man was meant to rule as a king upon the earth, and the woman was given to him as his queen. She would help him in this great task, and work with him side by side. Together, they were to carry out the dominion mandate.
Modern society has tried to divide the call to work from the domestic sphere. Family and the home have become places of leisure rather than responsibility and dominion. The truth is, however, that the home is bound up in the calling of dominion. In one sense, it is the engine room of dominion. The home and the workplace are all different parts of a single, harmonious picture of dominion, in which Christ’s reign is to be realised on the earth. Both men and women have their place in this vision. I think Matthew Henry said something like: the woman was created not to stand behind man, nor beneath him, but beside him, close to his heart, as his helper and partner in the work of ruling, redeeming, and renewing the world.
Be ye doers of the word….
Now, I know that this raises other questions—important ones. Questions like: What about women in the workplace? What about our roles in domestic life? What exactly is God’s design for all of that? I’m not going to get into those areas much further today, but we will get to them in the next number of posts in Genesis. We will get to a deeper dive on the topic of work, and more specifically, the interplay between work, marriage, men, and women. So hang tight—we’ll get to all of this in more detail soon.
For now, however, I want you to try and get the big picture. God calls each of us, men and women alike, to a life of service and hard work. And this life of service isn’t aimless; it’s about something far greater than ourselves. For each of us, it is ultimately about seeing Christ exalted. Don’t lose sight of that. Before we look at more of the details, keep this vision in your mind and make sure you’ve got it embedded in your worldview: the woman was created not to stand behind man, nor beneath him, but beside him, close to his heart, as his helper and partner in the work of ruling, redeeming, and renewing the world. We’re in this, male and female, together. SDG.
Prayer of Confession & Consecration
Lord, You formed me for your service, yet I confess I have often served my own comfort instead of your kingdom. Please forgive me for my pride, my passivity, and my fear. Teach me to honour your design for men and women, to embrace my role with joy, and to labour in whatever field you place me, whether seen or unseen, for the glory of Christ. Let my life exalt him, in all things, and at all times. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe
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By Reformed devotions from all of scripture.Prayer
Lord God, our loving Heavenly Father, your ways are altogether wise. Please open our eyes to see the beauty of your designs and purposes. Please help us to see and walk in your design for men and women. May we be freed from the false divisions of our age, please give us a heart of understanding. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Reading
Genesis 2:18-25.
“Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19. Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”
Meditation
The woman, alongside the man, was made for dominion. From the beginning, man was called to rule the earth and subdue it. God gave Adam a divine commission to cultivate, to dig, to build, to nurture, and to grow. His task was to develop the world, to shape creation through labor and ingenuity, to advance technology, and to multiply until the wide and wild world became a fruitful garden. Man was meant to rule as a king upon the earth, and the woman was given to him as his queen. She would help him in this great task, and work with him side by side. Together, they were to carry out the dominion mandate.
Modern society has tried to divide the call to work from the domestic sphere. Family and the home have become places of leisure rather than responsibility and dominion. The truth is, however, that the home is bound up in the calling of dominion. In one sense, it is the engine room of dominion. The home and the workplace are all different parts of a single, harmonious picture of dominion, in which Christ’s reign is to be realised on the earth. Both men and women have their place in this vision. I think Matthew Henry said something like: the woman was created not to stand behind man, nor beneath him, but beside him, close to his heart, as his helper and partner in the work of ruling, redeeming, and renewing the world.
Be ye doers of the word….
Now, I know that this raises other questions—important ones. Questions like: What about women in the workplace? What about our roles in domestic life? What exactly is God’s design for all of that? I’m not going to get into those areas much further today, but we will get to them in the next number of posts in Genesis. We will get to a deeper dive on the topic of work, and more specifically, the interplay between work, marriage, men, and women. So hang tight—we’ll get to all of this in more detail soon.
For now, however, I want you to try and get the big picture. God calls each of us, men and women alike, to a life of service and hard work. And this life of service isn’t aimless; it’s about something far greater than ourselves. For each of us, it is ultimately about seeing Christ exalted. Don’t lose sight of that. Before we look at more of the details, keep this vision in your mind and make sure you’ve got it embedded in your worldview: the woman was created not to stand behind man, nor beneath him, but beside him, close to his heart, as his helper and partner in the work of ruling, redeeming, and renewing the world. We’re in this, male and female, together. SDG.
Prayer of Confession & Consecration
Lord, You formed me for your service, yet I confess I have often served my own comfort instead of your kingdom. Please forgive me for my pride, my passivity, and my fear. Teach me to honour your design for men and women, to embrace my role with joy, and to labour in whatever field you place me, whether seen or unseen, for the glory of Christ. Let my life exalt him, in all things, and at all times. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe