Strength- a point is constant struggle for me. For men it wouldn’t be so much of an struggle, but more a point of something to strive for. For me, I not only strive for it, but struggle with knowing what strength even is…
In Chapter three of Captivating, Stasi talks about what causes women to seek out strength- and sometimes find it, perverting its nature.
“Are you comfortable trusting your well-being to someone else? And havent you felt your vulnerability as a women to be a liability? Most women hate their vulnerability. We are not inviting- we are guarded. Most of our energy is spent trying to hide our true selves, and control our worlds to have some sense of security.”
Why do you think that is? We can all relate to this. The need and urge to set all emotion aside and strive for the kind of strength that will kick men in their glory and keep ourselves going strong. Sure, we don’t all have the urge for such violence, but metaphorically speaking, it’s something we can all relate to.
The real cause behind such sexism and anger, derives of not only their faults, but ours as well. At the fall of humanity, Eve took the fruit. What did Adam do when she offered it? Probably shrugged, snatched it, took a bite and went “darn”. But what would we have wanted him to do? We as women, in Eves position would have yearned for Adam to say “No”, take Eve’s hand, and lead her away from the tree. But he didn’t…and as a result, Humanity fell.
But what did EVE do in this situation? Eve sought out the tree because Satan told her that God had lied. The concept of failure from her God, because of a lie told to her, drove her to seek out strength- to be equal or greater than the one that hurt her.
Now, God did not REALLY deceive or hurt her, but Satan allowed her to think He had- and she was weak in trusting that God would be faithful. As a result of that weakness, she sought out strength that did not belong to her. And therefore, in her lack of strength as a human, she perceived sin, and fell.
Eve also, lead her husband to seek such strength. She, who is supposed to be the supporter, the encourager, the one who makes peace, aided in the havoc that poured over all humanity, because of the foolish choice to believe a lie.
So what are we doing when we search for strength to be equal or greater with everything that tries to harm us? Is our strength found in God, or in ourselves? Because clearly… there is no strength in ourselves apart from God.