In a recent documentary entitled Eve in Exile, Rebekah Merkle makes the following observation: “I don’t think even the third-wave feminists have any idea what they’re fighting for… Every battle has been won and now we’ve gotten into the weird space where we don’t know what a woman is.”  Feminist ideology portrays Eve, the symbol of womanhood, as wandering through a confused world, robbed of her purpose and identity, living outside the garden.   In the national dialogue, the question is being asked, “What is a woman?”   

I think Merkle makes a valid point.  Maybe 10 years ago, when feminism was in full ascendency, the sense of being lost in a confused world was not a topic. But today it feels like the cry of a dissatisfied, questioning feminist yearning for a place called home, sensing she has been “exiled from Eden.”

There is a place for men and women in our culture to live in harmony in the garden, rightly related to each other.  Could it be that men haven’t fulfilled their God-given task in the garden, thus causing women to flee – only to find themselves lost outside the garden?  Maybe men need to reevaluate their roles.  Is it possible for men to woo women back to the garden?  

T.D. Jake of The Potter’s House preached a Father’s Day sermon entitled Real Men Pour In, which  I found very insightful: “We are raising up women to be men,” noted Jake. “When men are led by women, the divine order is broken… Real men pour in,” Jake said. “If Adam had not allowed Eve to pour into him, sin would have never come into the world. Sin came into the world because Adam broke the order.” 

Men are not to receive initially from women.  He warned women to “be careful about pouring too much into us” because “we are designed to pour into you and you are designed to take what we pour into you and increase it and make it better.”  He further warns women, “until you create a need that I can pour into, I have no place in your life.”  

Today the cry is, “Let’s prove to the men how dispensable they are.”  But this cry,” observes Jake, “is born out of pain, ’cause we hurt you, and betrayed you, and lied to you and cheated on you, and you became like you are out of pain.  But watch what is born of pain.”  He urged women to hold men to a higher standard instead of trying to replace them.  “Anatomically, men pour in.  Life begins when men pour in.  We were designed to pour in; you were designed to preserve what is poured in.” Jake told the women in his church.  “As it is in the physical, so it is in the spiritual.  We are designed to pour in.”

Drawing from both Eve in Exile and Real Men Pour In, I offer these observations:

First,  the voice of angry, wounded  women living outside the garden, is partly our fault.  As men, we have to own up to our role in failing to create space for Eve to grow. 

Second,  I  appreciate the image of “pouring in.”  If I can’t pour into my wife and others, I have the responsibility to get right with God, so that His Spirit will flow through me in the rough days ahead.

Third,  man and woman can both live  together in the garden.  As a man I can only “pour in” what is in my container: “Lord, fill me with your love, allowing me to meet the needs of my wife.”

In 63:7- 64:12, Isaiah is acting as a mediator on behalf of his people.  It is a lament and a cry of help.  The content is similar to the book of Lamentations.  The prophet laments over the failure of the people, but also questions God about allowing perilous conditions to persist. These are questions asked in real pain and perplexity, not in hostility or arrogance.  Rather then brooding within, Isaiah directs his compliant upwards to God.  

Where are you, God?  Why are things so different from the way they used to be?  Why are our hearts so hard?  How can we be saved?  How much longer will you be angry with us? “This is one of the most eloquent intercessions of the Bible, as he [Isaiah} surveys the past goodness of God and the present straits of his people” (New Bible Commentary).

Isaiah remembers the way God lead his people. The Message expresses it compassionately, “He didn’t send someone else to help them.  He did it himself, in person.  Out of his own love and pity He redeemed them.  He rescued them and carried them along for a long, long time” (63:9).  But they turned away.  “But they turned on him, they grieved his Holy Spirit.  So, he turned on them, became their enemy and fought them” (v 10).  I wonder how much we have turned away from the Lord? 

Then Isaiah cries out in lament. “Whatever happened to your passion, your famous mighty acts, Your heartfelt pity, your compassion? Why are you holding back? (63:15 -MGS).  He is wondering why God is not making his presence known in their present crisis.  He goes on to ask, “Lord, why have you allowed us to turn from your path?  Why have you given us stubborn hearts, so we no longer fear you? (63:17 NLT).  Isaiah is probably wondering, “God are you giving us what we deserve.”  Is this a question we dare to ask?  

But in 64:1 he cries out boldly, “Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!”  He is asking God to act on behalf of his people.  He recognizes God’s sovereignty in history saying, “Since before time began no one has ever imagined, no ear heard. no eye seen; a God like you who works for those who wait for him” (64:4 -MSG).  

He grieves over the condition of the people. “No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to our sins” (64:7 NLT).  The prophet seems to accept the sinful condition of his people, as God, “giving them over to their sins.”  

Then we hear his heart felt prayer for the nation. “Still, God, you are our Father.  We’re the clay and you’re our potter: All of us are what you made us.  Don’t be too angry with us, O God.  Don’t keep a permanent account of wrongdoing.  Keep in mind, please, we are your people – all of us” (v 9 – MGS).

In the midst of all the wrong that he sees in the nation, Isaiah directs his prayer in lament to God.  This is a lesson for each of us.  The greater the darkness, the more we should bring our complaint to God.  But like Isaiah we need to plead for his mercy upon us, even though we do not deserve it.  “In the face of all this, are you going to sit there unmoved, God?  Aren’t you going to say something?  Haven’t you made us miserable long enough?” (64:12 – MSG).