I've just watched another Trinny and Susannah special - the duo who specialise in taking women who have committed 'crimes against fashion' and teach them how to make the most of their body shape. This time they were attacking a westie Australian city (yay for westies!) - grabbing women of all ages and shapes for a makeover and parading them in a catwalk at the end of the day. It's great television! These are real people and its really happening to them. There are tears and tantrums of course. But here's the thing that really stands out - most of these women have had a rough life of some sort and have just given up caring, either trying to hide and fade into the background or becoming loud and brash with no sense of appropriateness. Most had low self esteem and just needed a confidence boost - which certainly happened because someone took the time to care and give them a new perspective on life, even it was only about wardrobe. Now there's one ministry I could love being a part of! (Do you think we could convince our churches to have a 'look good/feel good' department? Hmmm.)Why does this happen to such a large proportion of the female population? Let me quote from John & Stasi Eldredge in their book 'Captivating':
"The story of the treatment of women down through the ages is not a noble history. It has noble moments in it to be sure, but taken as a whole, women have endured what seems to be a special hatred ever since we left Eden...(They go on to list the history of abuse from Creation to the present day. It is too graphic to repeat here.) Dear God - what is to account for the systemic, often brutal, nearly universal assault on femininity?...Why is it so diabolical?"
Ephesians 6:12 gives us the answer: For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.
"The assault on femininity cannot be understood apart from the spiritual forces of evil we are warned about in the Scriptures. This is not to say that men (and women) have no accountability in their treatment of women. Not at all. It is simply to say that no explanation for the assault upon Eve and her daughters is sufficient unless it opens our eyes to the Prince of Darkness and his special hatred of femininity."
They go on to propose that Satan chose to go after Eve not just because he might have considered her weaker therefore the easier target (and he is utterly ruthless so there may be some truth to that) but because he was insanely jealous of the beauty and glory the woman was created to be. Read Ezekiel 28:12-14 to see what I mean: Lucifer was originally a guardian angel of quite some standing, specifically in his dazzling beauty. "You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty...every precious stone adorned you..." In the end it was his ruin - pride entered his heart. Verse 17 "Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendour." We all know what happened after his unsuccessful take-over bid. As 'Captivating' continues: "Now his heart for revenge is to assault beauty. He destroys it in the natural world wherever he can...he wreaks destruction on the glory of God in the earth like a pyschopath committed to destroying great works of art.
But most especially, he hates Eve.
Because she is captivating, uniquely glorious, and he cannot be. She is the incarnation of the Beauty of God. More than anything else in all creation, she embodies the glory of God."
So you see through all the ages Satan continues to vent his fury against fallen women, and for the most part she has no protection unless a godly person stands in her defence. The occasional man stood and intervened for her in history, but on the whole she was treated as property and with disdain. Men have hated that they love and are drawn to her (that's Satans corruption of God's purposes for the love relationship). Eve also gave life; she was the 'reproducer', and that was another good reason for the 'Master of Death' villain to go after the one who brings life. Eve means 'lifegiver'. Satan is the lifetaker. So, two good reasons to hate you forever!
Why am I telling you this? Not to scare you, please. In fact, the very opposite. This shines a massive spotlight on something women do very well: guilt! Whatever bad things happen to us, most of us interpret it deep down as 'our fault'. That somehow we deserved it. If only we were prettier or smarter or done more; if only we weren't so demanding, or weren't so insufficient. Too much or too little. That's the message that gets drummed into us at every turn. No matter how absurd this is given the evidence of the circumstances in most cases: we still manage to take the blame.
"It changes things to realise that, no, it is because you are glorious that these things happened! You are a major threat to the kingdom of darkness. You are hated because of your beauty and power... He fears who you are; what you are; what you might become."
What's going on with a lot of women is attempts at covering up this pain. We don't feel worthy of pursuit, we don't feel irreplaceable, we don't believe we are beautiful, we feel alone and abandoned or rejected because of past failures, and so to deal with this there are multitudes of armour options: the 'do not disturb' sign on our personality, the 'back off' facebook message to the world, the 'desperately seeking somebody' approach nearing on promiscuity, or maybe even the 'strive for perfection' suzy persona. We try hard at outward beauty, or try hard to make ourselves useful (beware the 'rescuer' syndrome). Conversely we could be shrinking violets hiding in the corner in beige, or the increasingly popular 'keep so busy it doesn' hurt' option. Actually once your eyes are opened to the possibilities, its amazing how many coping facades are deployed out there. That's why watching Trinny & Susannah brings me to tears - not the awful grabbing of body parts the two partake in and their overuse of the word 'sexy' - its the brokenness of the lovely victims and how they have no idea of what's really ailing them.
Here's the good news; a man did intervene in history, a man who was in fact God and by tricking Satan into thinking he had killed the Son of God, he destroyed forever the death grip Satan had on the planet. He released once again the created ones, man and woman, to fulfill their destiny and purpose and take back the planet in His Name. For women it means realising that you are passionately loved by the God of the Universe. He is waaaay greater than your enemy, has sought you out since the beginning of time, has come to heal your broken heart and restore your feminine soul. We can stop relying on our own resources, our self-redemptive plans, our controlling and our hiding. He only asks us to trust Him and rest in Him; He does the fighting for us! We will never be lonely again, never rejected, never abandoned, never used. His love is PERFECT and that means just what it says: there can be nothing wrong with it! He is perfectly good and therefore will never turn into anything else but our Hero and Champion. The rescuer of our souls, restorer of brokenness, lover of lovers, Captain of the Army of heaven.
Only by learning to rely on Him and Him alone will we be free from the enemy's assault. Too easy? Yes! Yes! And He's a lot gentler with the makeover than Trinny and Susannah, too.
(Much of this material is thanks to the book 'Captivating' as mentioned above)
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