Created to be His Helpmeet, Chaper 1

God's Gift

What God says:
"For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man." (I Corinthians 11:8-9)

"He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favour of the Lord." (Proverbs 18:22)

"A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband." (Proverbs 12:4)

My thoughts:
God has made me with a certain plan in mind, with a purpose for my life. I can choose to be selfish, disobedient, and unfulfilled as I try to make myself what I want, or I can choose to be obedient and joyful in His will even if it doesn't make sense when compared to our culture's standard. I am choosing to obey, to bring glory to Him through my life, and to find inexpressible joy though conforming to His pattern for my life.

God has given me to my husband as a gift. His pattern for me is to be suitable helper to my husband. I decided to look up the words "virtuous," "help," and "meet" in Webster's 1828 dictionary to help me gain a broader view of what is obviously so important to God. Here are the summaries of what I discovered:

The word "help" includes aiding and assisting in work; of delivering, assisting, or helping someone who is in distress or trouble; of remedying and healing; of helping forward, aiding over difficulties; and serving.

The word "meet" is clarified by the following words: fit, suitable, appropriate, qualified, adapted, right, qualified, and prepared.

The word "virtuous" includes the following ideas: being chaste, acting in conformity to God's moral law, abstaining from vice. Webster clarified, however, that merely performing some virtuous actions does not make the person doing them virtuous. I think his idea was that it has to be a heart attitude.

This is a pretty big job description! I know I can not do it without God's Spirit giving me power, but I trust Him to work in me and through me. "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6)

A favorite quotation from this chapter:
"God made you to be a help meet to your husband so you can bolster him, making him more productive and efficient at whatever he chooses to do. You are not on the board of directors with an equal vote. You have no authority to set the agenda. But if he can trust you, he will make you his closest advisor, his confidante, his press secretary, his head of state, his vice-president, his ambassador, his public relations expert, maybe even his speech writer--all at his discretion."

Practical goals for this week:
~Be cheerful in the mornings and at night even when I'm tired.
~Prepare Benjamin's breakfasts and lunches to take to work the evening before.
~Pray for Benjamin faithfully throughout the day.
~Be aware that when I am serving Benjamin, I am serving Christ as I keep my eyes open for things that should be cared for.
~When the going gets tough focus on Christ, my perfect example, who did not come to be served, but to serve.