READY: April 19

Next week, I will be taking the Feelin' Feminine challenge...but more on that in a later post. To prepare, I'd like to study godly womanhood during this week's READY. It's sometimes hard to tell what a godly woman would act like in today's culture, but God still wants us to try to become godly women. To fit this study, I'm going to add a new element to READY: "What ladies can learn." It's a flexible element that examines the role of womanhood in the passage. So, with a heart devoted to following God's perfect will, let's start learning about godly women from the very beginning :)

Today's Passage: Genesis 2, NCV, courtesy of BibleGateway.com

What ladies can learn:

1. Our purpose is directly tied to man's purpose. God gave man the purpose of working in the Garden of Eden; he gave woman the purpose of helping the man. Our purposes are not distinct or independent of each other; rather, when we are following God's will completely, we will be aiding godly men. The reverse is true, as well: when we aid godly men, we fulfill a part of God's will for us as ladies.
   
   
2. God told man not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Then God made woman--after He gave the command (maybe that's why Eve didn't follow the command...?). Now, we might not know how Eve found out about God's one rule, but I believe that if God had been the one to tell Eve about His command, God's words to Eve would be in the Bible. I could be wrong. But if God didn't tell Eve, who did? Adam must have told Eve about God's command. In this way, God put the man in spiritual leadership over the woman. We see this theme (the man is the spiritual "head" of the woman) throughout the Bible. In areas of spiritual leadership, men are to be the primary leaders, while women are to be helpers. I personally believe that the exception to this rule is when women give other women spiritual advice relating to womanhood.
   
   

Highlighted characteristic of God: God knows our needs. God knew that Adam couldn't work the whole garden by himself, and God knew exactly what kind of helper Adam needed. God knows about our needs, too.
In two words: God knows.

Highlighted characteristic for us: We need to trust God to fill our needs in His timing. God didn't fill Adam's need until after Adam had named all of the animals. In the same way, God may not fill our need until we fully realize that only He--not other people, material things, or whatnot--can fill it.
In three words: Trust God's timing.