Beauty of a Woman

As I continue this journey that God has been taking me on through the study “Captivating”, God has been teaching me so much about the beauty of a woman.

Beauty is such a hard thing for me. I know as a woman it is something I and if we are all honest, we struggle with and strive to have more and more of. We want to look beautiful! In our world it is all around us and constantly in our faces. How to look beautiful, be skinny, perfect hair, perfect teeth, perfect face, you name it. It seems like this list never ends. This is a huge struggle for many women. Please don’t get me wrong, I think it is okay to want to look beautiful but I don’t think it was ever meant to consume the heart of women. On the opposite end, some women try to hide their beauty for one reason or another. Plan Jane’s that don’t want to be noticed and stick out and so they hide their beauty. Both of these can be very unhealthy. And the reason I say this is because beauty isn’t something we need to try to get and strive for all the time and it isn’t something we should hide either! “God gave Eve a beautiful form and a beautiful spirit. She expresses beauty in both. Better, she expresses beauty simply in who she is. Like God, it is her essence.” Captivating-by John and Stasi Eldredge. Girls, we were made this way! Beauty matters and it is powerful! Beauty isn’t just something to captivate the eye but it speaks volumes about God and His creation.

I think to really understand beauty we need to look all the way back to the beginning, all the way back to the fall. We already know that men and women were made in the image of Almighty God. And that woman was not just and after thought but the Crown of Creation with a purpose. God made Adam and Eve to be one. So now fast forward a little to the fall. Who was it that the slithering, sneaky snake came to in the garden? Who is it he lied to? It was Eve. I’ve heard by many that the reason he came after Eve is because she was the weaker of the two. I disagree! In fact if you look at that portion of scripture you will find that Adam was most likely sitting right there as it all took place and didn’t do anything but eat the fruit himself (all this shows is that we are equally responsible). But that is another discussion. He definitely came after Eve for a reason.

First we need to look at the lying snake himself. Who is he really? You’re absolutely right if you said the devil or Satan. But who and how was he created? This is how he is described by God in Ezekiel 28:12-17,

…”You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.

He was made absolutely gorgeous. He was adorned with every precious stone. Beauty was who he was. And then wickedness found him and he wanted God’s glory. God in exercising his judgment threw him out and stripped all his beauty from him. Making him an ugly snake. God made a spectacle of him. Do you think he was a bit upset? Absolutely! He would despise God and hate him with all that he was. And because of this, he would try to get back at God. He can’t assault God’s character so he would insult His creation. His first target, Eve. It is no surprise that Satan would tempt Eve first. After all, she possessed the very thing that he had forfeited; Beauty.

For all who read this blog, I hope you are able to see that he still goes after women for this very reason. He has lied to so many women to think and feel they aren’t beautiful. He has tried to distort true beauty into something that is cheap and fake. This is such a battle. Almost crippling for some. That is why we see so many striving to obtain beauty, this is why we see so many trying to hide their beauty as though it is something to be despised. While this is an on going battle there is an end in sight, there is hope. A hope of redemption!