And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. Genesis 2:18
In our current culture many of us women take offense at thinking that a helper is somehow subservient. In the background. An appendage. Unnoticed, unsung, unworthy. We want to be the head, the voice, the force. We want to make decisions, take action, be in charge. Heaven forbid we be in any way secondary to our husbands.
Our culture rebels at any nuance of male domination, of men taking the lead. Women feel created to stay in the shadows, a mere helper, a go-fer (go for this, go for that).
We reason a robot could do that. A trained monkey. Women are more. We can think. We are smart. No, we are more than a helper. For generations women have believed that a helper is just white noise.
Let’s change our paradigm a bit. The Hebrew word for help meet is
EZER KENEGDO.
“Ezer kenegdo” means being a “helper” and “suited to, worthy of, or corresponding to him.” In sixteenth-century English King James translators rendered this to say “help meet”—the word meet meaning “fitting” or “proper.”
The term “help meet” means that a woman is a fitting and proper companion because she “corresponds” to a man.
“Correspond” meaning to be in conformity or agreement, to compare closely or match and to be equivalent or parallel.
Gen. 2:24 The instruction is given that man and woman must leave their parents who have loved and provided for them both physically and spiritually and because they “correspond” to each other they are to help, love, care for, and nurture one another.
In addition to the relationship of woman and man the term “helper” is often applied in the scriptures when referring to God as our helper. Wait a minute…. woman was created to be a HELPER and scripture says that GOD is a helper? We are in the same helper category as God?
Wow. Really? Take a look:
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalms 46:1
Behold, God is mine helper: the Lord is with them that uphold my soul. Psalms 54:4
…thou, Lord, hast helped me, and comforted me. Psalms 86:17
God corresponds to us. He helps, loves, cares for, and nurtures us.
Sisters, being a helper is NOT a secondary behind the scenes job. EZER is strong. EZER is nurturing. This is what God does for us. He is strong when we are down and out. He is nurturing when we are hurting spiritually or physically. EZER is caring. God cares for us when we cannot care for ourselves. He is there through thick and thin. He supports us when we are at our most vulnerable. He loves us when we wonder off into our own worlds temporarily forgetting about Him. He loves us when we ignore him, He cherishes us when we are too busy for Him. He forgives us when we err.
Sisters, we were created to be this kind of helper to our husbands. Strong. Supportive. Loving. Nurturing. Forgiving. This is our assignment. This is our mandate.