A New Woman’s Story

A New Woman’s Story for International Women’s Day

What’s new? As March begins, we’ll be considering the theme of “new” things, and today, in honor of International Women’s Day (March 8), I’m going to tell about a new – very old – way of understanding a woman’s story. It is new because it challenges many of the current understandings of a woman’s story. It is old because it is the first story ever told about women.

Let’s look at the structure of the Biblical story to see how God has written a woman’s story.

1.  Creation (Gen. 1:26-31; Gen. 2:18-23). Women were created with dignity and purpose for God’s glory.

• God created women with dignity, differentiation, and dominion. God created women alongside men to join together in praise and purpose.
• If you are a woman, you, together with man, are created in the image of God – you reflect God’s glory.
• God created women different from men, described in Hebrew as  “ezer kenegdo” (Gen. 2:18), which literally means “helpers as corresponding to” a man. (To give you an idea of the strength implied by the word “ezer,” take note that the word is used mainly to refer to God in Scripture).
• Women, with men, have a crucial mission, summarized in the mandate, “be fruitful and multiply and have dominion over the earth.” While being fruitful and multiplying does refer to childbirth, it also refers to multiplying God’s majesty on earth. Women can be fruitful and multiply as scientists, missionaries, housecleaners, firefighters, mothers, and wives, among many other things.

2.                  Fall (Gen. 3:1-19). Women are sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23).

• Women sin. (Men are complicit in woman’s sin when they fail to speak into their lives and lead as God instructed (Gen. 3:6)). Women (like men) are easily seduced by things that seem pleasing to the eye, things that promise to give us the control we desperately want, things that we think will crown us the Queen of our Own Universe.
• Women feel shame (as do men). Women feel shame over their sin and want to hide from God (Gen. 3:7).
• Because of the Fall, women also at times experience shame for sins perpetrated by others; emotional, physical, or sexual abuse cause deep wounds.
• Women suffer from a curse – physical and emotional pain in our bodies, relational pain resulting from loneliness, and the temptation to control and manipulate the men in our lives (Gen. 3:16).

3.                  Redemption (Gen. 3:8-9; 2 Cor. 5:17-21). God has redeemed women and freed us to live our stories for his glory.

• God pursues women (and men) in our sin. He goes looking for us in hiding, even when he already knows where we are (Gen. 3: 8-9).
• God dignified a woman with the mission of bearing the offspring that will defeat the evil one once and for all (Gen. 3:15; Matthew 1:18).
• He covers our shame, both with clothing (Gen.3:21), and through a Savior who will die for our sins and cover us with his righteousness (2 Cor. 5: 21).
• When women realize our own works are rubbish (as are men’s) (Phil. 3:8) and turn to Christ as our only Savior (repentance and faith), we are freed from the shame that has defined us. No longer “not enough,” we are made “more than enough” in Christ.
• Redeemed women now live for Christ as new creation – yes, struggling with sin until the day he returns (Romans 7:18-19), but nonetheless new and becoming more like him every day (1 John 3:2).

4.                  Consummation (Rev. 21-22). God will one day fully restore a woman’s peace, and we will rest and enjoy his honor, glory, and love.

• One day, Christ will return to claim the church as his bride (Rev. 21:2). God will be with women and men, and he will wipe every tear from our eyes (Rev. 21:3-5).
• At the end of the story, when sanctification is completed in glorification, we will begin a new and unending story of living as we were created to live (Rev. 21:5). Women and men will no longer be divided; no longer will we suffer from our own selfish demands. We won’t murder our friends or family with mean words. We won’t be tired by our exhaustive efforts to please people; we won’t be torn by our desire to be known and our fear of being known.
• We will love to be loved and we will love to love.

A Prayer for a Woman’s Story

On this week leading up to International Women’s Day, let’s take time to pray for the women of the world and the women in our lives.

Creator God,

We thank you for the way you created the first woman, Eve, and endowed all women with strength and dignity, dominion and purpose. We are glad you made women and men different; we praise you for creating male and female in your image.

Women: Forgive us for the harm we have done as women — seeking our own way, trying to manipulate and control our worlds, grasping for power that was meant for You alone.

Men: Forgive us for the harm we have done as men — misusing authority to oppress and suppress women, failing to honor the wisdom and unique insight of women, and even demeaning women by treating them as our objects rather than Your subjects.

Thank you that you are redeeming and renewing us as women and men day by day. Thank you for writing a new story in a woman’s heart, for freeing us from slavery and clothing us with your righteousness. Thank you for creating us anew and giving us a fresh vision for who you have called us to be!

We pray for restoration for all of the women of the world. We lift up especially women who are abused and trafficked, women who do not have equal opportunities for education, women who are treated in ways Jesus never would have treated them. Bring hope to the dark places of women’s lives. Come Lord Jesus, come soon, to complete your renewing and reconciling work among all the women of the world.

In the name of the Savior who loved women perfectly we pray,
Amen.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash