A Nugget from New Life Network
(excerpts from Chris Musgrove of Future Now)
Scripture for the Day (October 11, 2018)
In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered. (1 Peter 3:7, NLT)
In Genesis chapter 1, after God created the heavens and the earth, He created light, dry land, grass and trees, sun and moon, birds and fishes, animals, and then man. Six times He said it was good (verses 4,10,12,18,21,25). Genesis 1:31 says (for the seventh time), “And God saw everything that He had made and indeed it was very good.”
Then in Genesis 2:18 God had a second thought and said, “It is not good that man should be alone.” So God said it was good, good, good, good, good, good, very good, and then God said one time it was not good. The last part of verse 18 says, “I will make him a helper comparable to him.” The Amplified Bible says, “I will make him a helper (suitable, adapted, and complementary) for him.”
So in Genesis 2:21-25 it says, “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 And Adam said: ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”
There are several things we need to see from these verses:
1- God is the One who noticed that it is not good for man to be alone (man was satisfied and he was not looking for a partner for life)
2-There is only one thing that can meet the man’s need, from God’s point of view, a woman, because she was taken out of man (just one, not more)
3-God creates the woman to be exactly what the man needs (the way that she is created physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally)
4-There is a clear process to marriage here: A) Man leaves his father and mother (creating a new family unit) B) He first joins to his wife (the literal translation is cemented together, this is the bond of marriage) C) Then the two become one flesh (through the act of sexual intercourse, marriage first, then sexual relations) D) The two were together and not ashamed (shame comes when sex comes before marriage, or when marriage is anything other than one man and one woman).
There are some critical truths in all this process that we all need to grasp. When man was first created he was man and woman. God saw that man needed a helper and created woman out of man and called them “one flesh”. The revelation that you need to see here is that woman is man’s other self. Together, they are more like God than any other time because God made man in His image. Together (in unity), they are more powerful than at any other time. That is why Satan has targeted the union of man and woman because he recognizes the Godly power and the very life that comes from that union. That is why there is such a struggle with divorce and homosexuality.
The husband and wife are meant to complete each other, not compete with each other!
