Written by Debby Baril
Women are strong, resilient, conquerors, and most amazing considering all that man and religion has tried to take away, and the crimes that have been committed against them. Crimes to silence their voice; to destroy or hide their beauty; to steal their innocence; to sterilize their ability to procreate; to invalidate their uniqueness and their contribution in life.
Women all over the world, and some of you reading this, have overcome some of the most horrendous things. Women whose courage is not a theory but a lived testimony. You were created to be God imagers and influencers, and it begins with knowing who God says you are.
Genesis 1:27; 2:18 - So God created human beings in His own image. In the image of God, He created them; male and female He created them. Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
Women were created to co-partner with men to fulfill the divine commission to rule and represent God. Adam, as a lone human, is unable to fulfill his vocation without an “other”, so God creates a helper, an “Ezer”. This is not an assistant or helper as we think of it but describes someone who plays the role of the “indispensable other” without whom the desired good cannot be fulfilled. Ezer is used 21 times in the Old Testament, and outside of Genesis 2, it is only used to describe the Lord as a deliverer of His people.
God created an “indispensable other” suitable for Adam. The Hebrew word suitable means in front of or before. It gives the sense of mirroring him, opposite of him, what faces him. She is the corresponding “other” without whom the ideal of Genesis 1 cannot be fully realized.
God put Adam into a deep sleep and from Adam’s side God formed Eve. In the other 40 uses of the Hebrew word side, it is never translated rib. The word is an architectural term, not anatomical. He takes one side of Adam and builds the woman.
Therefore, the woman mirrors Adam; she is neither superior nor inferior, but an equal, an agent of God’s deliverance, which is ultimately seen as the seed of the woman who will crush the serpent. And this is one of the reasons the enemy seeks to destroy her.
The enemy wants to silence your voice, because he understands the power of a woman dedicated to God and His purposes. The failing of Eve in Eden is used as a weapon to cover women with a cloak of shame, pressing them down, stripping them of their place and calling to be image bearers and influencers.
Let me tell you about our incredible Redeemer God! Yes, Eve messed up, but what does God do? He brings the Savior, who takes away the sins of the world, through a woman. Whatever shame the enemy intended for women – God says a resounding “NO” to. Today may we hear that resounding “NO” breaking off shame so we can be the courageous women of faith that He’s called us to be.
You have been created to influence whether through mothering or mentoring. You have been called to raise a generation that is a light in the darkness, that will do great exploits in His Name, who will proclaim and demonstrate the power and love of the Kingdom of God.
Let us be like the courageous women who fill the pages of scripture with stories of perseverance and resilience, who pushed past cultural barriers, hostility, silence, darkness, and refused to allow their past to define them. Let us be women of courage, influencers, who will partner with God to fulfill His purposes.
