The book of Genesis is a gold mine of eternal truth. It has been said th
at every major doctrine taught in the Bible is found in seed form there, and that is particularly true of the first few chapters, the creation story.
That is true of the topic of our postings the past few weeks, the relationship between husbands and wives and the unique roles of each in the great plan of God for His world. Women are said in Genesis to be created to be “helpers” for their husbands (Genesis 2:18) in their calling of ruling in the kingdom of God (Genesis 1:28). Nothing could be more odious to young women in today’s feminist culture. They have been taught to have their own, independent identity, separate from their husband’s, and the only way you can do that is to have a career outside the home.
Publishing a posting that outlines a better way for women that fits God’s eternal plan as taught in the Bible is akin to wearing a MAGA hat in public. I was telling Jill I would love to do that if I was younger or had pepper spray to carry with me at the ready! The same reaction would occur if I publicly advocated what I am writing in these postings. I could be the “pepper-spray preacher.”
The constant message streamed at young women is that assisting their husbands in his career, his “calling” as his helper is demeaning, limiting, and will never allow her to reach her full potential. Homemaker is not for intelligent, educated, competent women, society tells them. It is implied, if not spoken, that they must establish their own, independent identity separate from their husband, and the best way to do that is through a career outside the home.
That is a satanic lie, designed to break apart families by causing a woman to forsake her calling to become a “helper” for their own husbands and become a “helper” for another man who is not her husband! Somewhere in the authority structure where she works every day, there is another person in authority over her to whom she gives her 40 prime hours of time and energy each week.
I am going to show you how the Bible teaches that helping her husband, as God designed her to do, by being a “worker at home” (1 Timothy 2:4,5), opens up vast opportunities that fit her interests and skill perfectly. What is the end-game of recognizing her calling as a homemaker and giving her life to that end? In what ways will she extend the rule of the kingdom into territory Satan is currently contesting? How does a homemaker do battle when she is working in her home?
There are three main battlefields where wives will do battle with Satan as he counterattacks.
#1 – Her husband. A wife can create a home that is not another battlefield where her husband must continue to wage spiritual war as he has done all day, but a source of life and encouragement, a spiritual oasis, as well as a place of physical blessing—beautiful, peaceful, and orderly. He can relax and recharge for the battle the next day, as her vibrant spiritual life is like water in a desert to him, particularly when the war that day has been particularly exhausting. As a wife matures in the Lord, she will become more and more a helpmate in this way.
Nothing is more satisfying to a man than to come home to his kingdom, his home, and find that in his absence it has been well maintained and there is no cause for worry. His policies have been carried out carefully and his wishes have been anticipated, because his wife knew his heart and wanted to please him in all she did. She has followed his directives, even in areas where she might not totally agree with him, because she has accepted his rule in the home and in her life. A woman who has learned to do this is the one whose “worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts in her” (Proverbs 31:10,11). She has discovered the key to using the home in ministry to her husband.
This might seem idealistic and unattainable to women who are already married and in a situation unlike this, and, in a sense it is, but so are all the standards God lays out for us in Scripture. However, we do not ignore them and go our own way because they are idealistic, but acknowledge that they are the goals, not to strive to reach, but they are mirrors to show us our failure to do so, so we can repent, trusting God to work obedience to them in us.
We recognize these standards as “the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14). In this passage, Paul sees his imperfections (“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected”), but is not discouraged because of his failures (“forgetting those things which are behind”), because he is confident of his forgiveness for those shortcomings and his standing with God (“Christ has also laid hold of me”). In the same way God is calling us “to press toward the goal” God has set for us as husbands and wives.
In this posting, we looked at how the home of a full-time homemaker is a weapon for her to use in the life of her husband to subdue the enemy in her calling to rule over the earth. Next week we will see that is true with her children, #2, as well as those all around her in the world, #3.
