There is so much going on in our culture regarding sex and gender and identity and any combination of those subjects, that I can’t speak to them all here. My primary goal in this post is to speak to the majority of women who are struggling with the typical daily struggles of life as a biological woman.
It feels strange to have to set those parameters, but I feel with our current cultural climate, it’s necessary.
In the creation account, the Bible tells us that Adam watched as all the created creatures were paraded before him and he got the opportunity to name them (when I get to heaven, I have some questions regarding the platypus.)
So the Lord God formed out of the ground every wild animal and every bird of the sky, and brought each to the man to see what he would call it. And whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, and to every wild animal; but for the man no helper was found as his complement. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place. Then the Lord God made the rib He had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. And the man said: This one, at last, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called “woman,” for she was taken from man.
Genesis 2:19-23 HCSB
https://bible.com/bible/72/gen.2.19-23.HCSB
Bear in mind that God is omniscient- He knows all things. It wasn’t as if He sent the menagerie before Adam and then suddenly had the thought, “Oh no! I forgot to make the girl one!”
No, God isn’t surprised by anything.
In my reading and study of this passage, I see beautiful intentionality in the way God created woman.
First, He put Adam to sleep. Imagine being Adam for a second… A sense of despondency must have overwhelmed him having seen both male and female of every animal and yet not finding a companion of his own species. Sure, dogs are great, and it being prior to the fall, it would have been awesome to be the unafraid companion of something like a tiger or grizzly bear… but… when Adam looked around, he must’ve wondered, “Where’s my other? My partner?”
God responds by saying it’s not good for man to be alone- the only time God looks at an aspect of His creation and doesn’t call it good.
So God knocked Adam out! It is interesting to me that God didn’t tell Adam what He was doing beforehand. It was altogether too wonderful and beautiful for Adam to see. It was a surprise! And when he woke up, imagine his surprise! He [Adam] had one fewer ribs, and there in front of him was a creature unlike any other he had ever seen before- a woman. His woman. His wife, partner, friend, lover, and companion.
Eve was desired, she was loved, she was needed and placed on a pedestal. I think most women want to feel that way; desired, loved, needed…
But there’s a mindset that looks at the beauty in this aspect of complimentary creation and takes offense that part of woman’s purpose is to complete man, as if woman on her own is inferior, unvalued, and unjustly subjugated. Many women have experienced these things at the hands of ungodly men they have encountered. That was not God’s design. It is not God’s desire that man should abuse, berate, belittle, mock, or oppress woman. Over and over in Scripture, we see a picture of God exalting women, treating them with dignity and respect, even if they are of ill-repute!
If God made you female, regardless of feelings of attraction, body type, reproductive capability, or anything else of that sort which may conflict with the biology of being female, He had a purpose. It is part of the unique experience of life which ultimately is to show the glory and majesty of God as Creator.
In my own life, I’ve wrestled with my identity as a female, wondering if God made a mistake. Why am I not more “girly”? Why am I not more maternal? Why don’t I emote the way other women do? Why do I struggle so with body-image, and sexuality? Why does my role as wife and mother seem so inadequate?
Those questions and many more to which I don’t have the answers. But, what God in His grace has shown me is that He never fails, and He never makes mistakes. The brokenness I face in this life is the result of living in a fallen world; a world in which men don’t always treat women with dignity and respect, in which women’s identity and worth are placed on sexual market value, rather than as Divine Image Bearers.
When I feel bombarded by cultural, or societal expectations I return to God’s Word. Who does God say I am?
He says I am His daughter, the Bride of Christ, fearfully and wonderfully made. (Isaiah 54:5; 2 Corinthians 6:18; Psalm 139:14-16)
I can rest in God’s truth, the ONLY truth, even when my feelings contradict His Word, because “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked…”(Jeremiah 17:9)
And it is in the truth of the Bible that I have peace in knowing that God had a reason for absolutely every facet of my life, even in making me female.
Wholly Holy Living 