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Women in the workplace (Gen 2:18-25).
Prayer
O Lord, giver of truth and wisdom, help me to understand your word as I study your purposes in creation. Teach me to grasp the beauty of your design, that you made the woman not as an afterthought, but as a strong and vital helper in the great task of ruling and cultivating your world. Open my eyes to the dignity of this work and the partnership you ordained for men and women from the beginning. Let your Spirit guide me into all truth, that I may honor your design and walk faithfully in it. In Jesus’ name I pray, 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 was made as a helper, as we see in verse 18. This is clear, but it raises the question: Help with what? It’s an important question, and has a few layers to it. At the most basic level, we need to see that the woman was created to help the man with the dominion mandate. That’s the big picture. In verse 15, the man is placed in the garden to work and keep it, and verse 18 shows that the woman was made to help him in this task of subduing the earth.
Building on this insight, it should be very clear to us that women were made for work. In verse 15, we see the man had a job—to work and keep the garden, to rule the earth and subdue it. Rebekah Merkle in her excellent book “Eve in Exile” explains this well. She says that the first man was given a wild and empty planet and told to subdue it, which was a huge task too big for Adam to do alone. Eve was created specifically to assist Adam in his work, because he couldn’t rule and cultivate the world on his own. God created a woman who was a worker, meant to stand beside Adam as they took dominion of the earth together.
Be ye doers of the word….
Whether we are men or women, the truth remains: God made us to work and to serve. The woman was made for work. God wants the earth to be fruitful, and he calls us to work to make that happen. Each of us has a calling to work hard at whatever is before us—whether in the home, the workplace, the church, or society. God wants us to work hard and be fruitful, and if we’re not doing that, we’re missing God’s purpose for our lives. Whatever it is that God has called you to do, are you working hard?
And let’s not devalue or downplay the special role that God has for wives and mothers in family life, especially in bearing and nurturing the children who will literally fill the world. The surrounding culture devalues the significance of domestic life, and wages outright war on child-bearing by it’s passive toleration of abortion. Family life is not the drudgery our culture makes it out to be, it is rather the powerhouse and generator of culture itself. Bearing children, and many of them, is a noble and wonderful calling, without it, the Lord Jesus himself would not have come to us. SDG.
Prayer of Confession & Consecration
O God of heaven, I confess that I have often forgotten your purpose for my life, to work diligently and serve faithfully in the place you have set for me. Too easily I have given in to laziness, selfishness, or the lies of a culture that despises the good work of home, family, and fruitfulness. Forgive me for devaluing what you call noble, for neglecting the work you have given, and for fearing man more than you. Strengthen me by your Spirit to obey your calling with joy, and to labor with all my heart for your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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By Reformed devotions from all of scripture.Prayer
O Lord, giver of truth and wisdom, help me to understand your word as I study your purposes in creation. Teach me to grasp the beauty of your design, that you made the woman not as an afterthought, but as a strong and vital helper in the great task of ruling and cultivating your world. Open my eyes to the dignity of this work and the partnership you ordained for men and women from the beginning. Let your Spirit guide me into all truth, that I may honor your design and walk faithfully in it. In Jesus’ name I pray, 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 was made as a helper, as we see in verse 18. This is clear, but it raises the question: Help with what? It’s an important question, and has a few layers to it. At the most basic level, we need to see that the woman was created to help the man with the dominion mandate. That’s the big picture. In verse 15, the man is placed in the garden to work and keep it, and verse 18 shows that the woman was made to help him in this task of subduing the earth.
Building on this insight, it should be very clear to us that women were made for work. In verse 15, we see the man had a job—to work and keep the garden, to rule the earth and subdue it. Rebekah Merkle in her excellent book “Eve in Exile” explains this well. She says that the first man was given a wild and empty planet and told to subdue it, which was a huge task too big for Adam to do alone. Eve was created specifically to assist Adam in his work, because he couldn’t rule and cultivate the world on his own. God created a woman who was a worker, meant to stand beside Adam as they took dominion of the earth together.
Be ye doers of the word….
Whether we are men or women, the truth remains: God made us to work and to serve. The woman was made for work. God wants the earth to be fruitful, and he calls us to work to make that happen. Each of us has a calling to work hard at whatever is before us—whether in the home, the workplace, the church, or society. God wants us to work hard and be fruitful, and if we’re not doing that, we’re missing God’s purpose for our lives. Whatever it is that God has called you to do, are you working hard?
And let’s not devalue or downplay the special role that God has for wives and mothers in family life, especially in bearing and nurturing the children who will literally fill the world. The surrounding culture devalues the significance of domestic life, and wages outright war on child-bearing by it’s passive toleration of abortion. Family life is not the drudgery our culture makes it out to be, it is rather the powerhouse and generator of culture itself. Bearing children, and many of them, is a noble and wonderful calling, without it, the Lord Jesus himself would not have come to us. SDG.
Prayer of Confession & Consecration
O God of heaven, I confess that I have often forgotten your purpose for my life, to work diligently and serve faithfully in the place you have set for me. Too easily I have given in to laziness, selfishness, or the lies of a culture that despises the good work of home, family, and fruitfulness. Forgive me for devaluing what you call noble, for neglecting the work you have given, and for fearing man more than you. Strengthen me by your Spirit to obey your calling with joy, and to labor with all my heart for your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe