The Helpmate

In the U.S. Navy, each ship or each shore facility is a unit called a command. The other military services use the same terminology. The person, fully and ultimately responsible for that command’s operation and safety is the commanding officer, or the commander. The commander’s work is to communicate with the squadron commander, the commodore. The commander deals with the issues of his command and plans strategies to resolve future issues, and accepts the commodore’s experience in his own similar situations when he was a commander. The commander talks with the commodore concerning high level plans and missions for his ship, discussion by two very sharp, cream of the crop, officers. The commanding officer has his assistant, the executive officer. While the executive offer is highly involved with the plans which the commanding officer receives from the squadron commodore, the executive officer’s main duties involve the crew. He is responsible for training the crew and for keeping them comfortable and in good spirits. He also plays largely in their performance evaluations and in disciplinary proceedings. In every household God has put a commanding officer and an executive officer. The father and mother work together for their little crew. But even though they cooperate in leading their family, their roles are different and distinct. They both enforce the laws of the home, but the father punishes misbehavior when the mother has not been able to effectively communicate correction. And woe to the insubordinate child when father gets involved! Hopefully this has to happen only once in the child’s lifetime. The Lord God made woman the perfect helper for man. Her spiritual makeup is perfectly suited by the Creator to defer to her tougher male counterpart. By nature, her man is bold, full of energy and fearless of danger, which she accepts, and with wisdom serves to keep him healthy so that he can fill his role among the others of his gender. “Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.” (Prov. 31:23). If he is off the mark, she will advise him of her opinion. Then she will fall in behind him supporting him, so long as his course is not in violation of God’s law. “She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.” (Vs. 12). She is her husband’s armor bearer, always right by his side. She speaks like Jonathan’s helper in warfare. “And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the Lord will work for us: for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few. And his armourbearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart: turn thee; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart. Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will pass over unto these men, and we will discover ourselves unto them. If they say thus unto us, Tarry until we come to you; then we will stand still in our place, and will not go up unto them. But if they say thus, Come up unto us; then we will go up: for the Lord hath delivered them into our hand: and this shall be a sign unto us. And both of them discovered themselves unto the garrison of the Philistines: and the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves. And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armourbearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will shew you a thing. And Jonathan said unto his armourbearer, Come up after me: for the Lord hath delivered them into the hand of Israel. And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armourbearer after him: and they fell before Jonathan; and his armourbearer slew after him.” (1Sam. 14:6-13). For all just causes, the converted and consecrated woman will stand behind her converted and consecrated husband. She will not take the controls, but will spring into action as he springs. His cause is her cause, even if it calls for difficulty or danger. They are one in heart and in life. She is happy to be with her husband. Not just because she appreciates what he does and says, but just because she loves him. She can’t help it; God wired her that way. And in the stillness of the night, when nothing is happening, she is happy just to know she is with her husband, her lover and her friend. Without his doing or saying anything—just breathing in slumber—he makes her happy and secure. Nothing else can dismiss the self-sufficiency in man. Without his doing anything, she loves him and wants to be in his presence. Woman is an amazing creature! She is the grand finale of creation week, revealing the image of the most intimate characteristics of God. Mercy, gentleness, meekness, ingenuity, creativity, multi-tasking, intimacy, service, disinterested love. Woman is amazing indeed! And infinitely more so is her wonderful Creator.