Recently Judy and I attended an annual gathering of friends we have known for a long time.  They all have been instrumental in our spiritual journey.  We always enjoy a rich time of fellowship as we share our faith journeys over the previous year.

While we were in prayer, I had a vision of a little, red, shiny wagon.  I have had visions before when I have been in prayer with others.  I have learned to test and discern if it is from the Lord or part of my overactive imagination.  When a vision sticks with me and is so vivid and relevant, I can trust it to be from the Lord.  

I wonder!!  Are visions going to be more frequent in our day?  With so much hostility and unbelief being expressed towards the Good News of Jesus and his kingdom, will God manifest himself in direct ways to let us know, “I am here, and I am at work?”  Could God be giving his people visions to awaken our souls, giving us a hunger to seek him with all their hearts?  May we not be hardened to the awareness of his presence.     

We read in Acts 2:16-18, “In the last days,  God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men dream dreams.  Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophecy.”  Peter included  these words in the first sermon preached in the book of Acts.  Could we be in the last days?  I don’t know.  But if people are having visions and dreams, it is time to pay attention (Job 33:14-17). 

Now for the vision:  It was a bright, red wagon, the kind youngsters would use in play.  I was pushing the wagon with much effort.  Then Jesus came along and told me to get into the wagon and let him pull the wagon by the handle.  So I got into the wagon and allowed him to pull it.  So, what is God wanting to show me?  And how might it be helpful for men reading this blog?

First, I was reminded to be on constant guard against spiritual pride. The wagon was bright and shiny red.  I was with friends who know me well.  I wanted to look “bright and shiny” spiritually.  I was trying to push the wagon.  I wanted others to see how spiritual I was.  I was reminded of the parable in which Jesus is invited to the house of Pharisee in Luke 14.  Noticing those who choose the higher place, Jesus warned about being “humiliated” when asked to take the lowest place.  Then he said, “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Luke 14:11). 

Secondly, I was reminded about being childlike, by getting into the wagon and allowing Jesus to be in charge.  Jesus said, “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:4).  I need to let go, get in the wagon, and simply be childlike in my enthusiasm and joy of being pulled by the Lord.   

Thirdly, I was reminded to let Jesus direct and pull the wagon.  All my effort in pushing my shiny, red wagon is for naught.  I need to constantly remember that I am not “pushing” my walk with the Lord.  He knows best how to bring change in my life. I have to let go and give him control (Gal. 2:20). 

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.”