Men Of Valor
By Andrew Gommesen
To Andrea—
May you one day find your
Man of Valor
Introduction
How many of you have received a gift for Christmas or your Birthday and then had the giver say to you “Take good care of that, I worked very hard on it”, or maybe “That would be hard to replace, be careful with it.” I know I have.
If you are anything like me, the scenario often plays out something like this. The special gift is given, the giver’s entreaty made, followed an emphatic promise to fulfill the wishes of the giver. At first the new keyboard is neat, you can’t imagine a day going by where you wouldn’t “tickle the ivories,” lightly dust the keys, and put it away in a proper place.
Unfortunately, the novelty quickly wears off. The keyboard now lacks its initial luster. Though you once played it every day, it gets stuck on a shelf somewhere and you forget about it. You only discover it when you do your spring-cleaning. You get excited again, pull it out, blow six inches of dust off of it, and try to play it again only to discover that two of the keys stick and one is broken off.
It is very interesting how something that was once so precious to us can become an afterthought. The time and effort that our loved one put into it is wasted. We hope and pray that they don’t ask about it, and when they do we try to quickly change the subject or simply hang our heads in shame.
I believe that God has given men a great gift which is of far greater value than a keyboard. As a matter of fact “her price is far above rubies.” (Proverbs 31:1) One of the best earthly gifts God has given to men is the gift of women.
When God finished creating Adam, he brought all the animals to him so that he could name them. These animals were no doubt friendly with Adam. But none of these animals could adequately fill the roll of “helpmeet” for him. “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.” (Gen. 2:18, 20)
The chapter goes on to explain God’s solution to the problem and Adam’s grateful exultation of God’s faithfulness in meeting his need. “And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.“ (Verses 21-23)
Women are very precious and fragile. The Apostle Peter refers to them as a “weaker vessel” (1 Peter 3:7) There was a time when men were quick to embrace their duty to protect the precious gift of womanhood. “Woman and children first” was the rallying cry of the men of valor aboard the Titanic in April 1912.
Almost 100 years later few vestiges of such valor remain. Men are classified as either stupid pushovers or dictatorial tyrants. I’d like to be able to say that these are totally groundless stereotypes but I cannot. Men have dropped the ball. The “weaker vessel” of womanhood has been damaged. The results are seen everywhere from the rise of the stay-at-home dad, to the women who put their lives on the line in the service of the Armed forces.
Men have been given a great gift in women, and with that gift come great responsibility. We must care for, protect, and defend the women in our lives. The consequences of failing to do so are far greater than failing to dust the keys off a keyboard regularly. We have been charged with preserving and protecting a valuable part of the Bride of Christ. We must be men of valor. Join me on the following pages as we discuss how to do this and the ramifications of our failure to do so.
As I close this introduction, I would like to say a few words to the ladies who may be reading. First of all, thank you. I hope the thoughts and ideas contained in these pages will be an encouragement to you—to those praying for husbands as well as those who are praying for those you already have.
Note: These next few weeks I will be posting chapters of my book. If you have any ideas fo publication let me know. Thoughts and comments are always welcome!
