Furioso
7 min read
34 But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the sections of his armor. The king told his chariot driver, “Wheel around and get me out of the fighting. I’ve been wounded.” 35 All day long the battle raged, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. The blood from his wound ran onto the floor of the chariot, and that evening he died.
— 1 Kings 22:34-35
The Lord made sure that there was no glory for Ahab in his death. And no one was allowed to take the glory for killing him. There was no heroic standoff. Of all the arrows flying that day, God simply took one and guided it into an opening in Ahab’s armor.
I think men, in particular, like Ahab and Jehoshaphat, are born with wanting to make a name for themselves. There is something very natural about that. And God will bless the man who would devote his life for the purpose of God and the glory of God.
It’s a sad state of affairs, and probably the work of the devil, that makes many men today want to be anonymous and invisible. There are only the alpha dogs, who for the most part turn out to be sociopaths. Everyone other man is just a blur in the background.
Men really need to shape up. But if the word of God has anything to say about that, we know that men absolutely need the help of women to become men of glory.
I was chatting with someone about the movie “Furiosa” that was released for the Memorial Day weekend. Despite being a very good movie, it did terrible at the box office, relatively speaking. And some people believe that it is because men are getting tired of watching men playing second fiddle to women protagonists.
I have no problem with movies like “Furiosa,” and so I plan to watch it and enjoy it for its entertainment value. But I do think that we should address the message that such movies communicate and the phenomenon that they portray.
In a way, men are born second fiddle to women protagonists—that is, their moms. But are women today mentored to raise up their sons to be heroes for the glory of God? Do women as a whole today have the desire to raise up their sons to want to make a name for themselves for the glory of God?
It seems to me that the message for both men and women today is that women are fully capable of being the alpha dogs in their workplaces and in their homes. It seems to me that the devil has made the nobility of motherhood something to be minimized and even despised within our culture. It seems to me that the earnings potential of the woman has become more valued than her motherhood potential. Am I wrong about this?
I post this blog understanding that many people might take offense. But honestly, I hope and pray no one does. I readily acknowledge that I am not an “expert” on gender issues, if there could ever be such a thing. These are just my opinions based on my observations, guided by the word of God.
And I am not a misogynist. I hope and pray no one thinks that of me. I believe that every woman should have the right to a career—if they want—and that they should receive equal pay for equal work.
At the same time, it just seems very clear to me that the greatest honor of womanhood has somehow been misdirected and that this world is worst off for it.
Father, what do I know about such matters? But You know all things. If anything the gender war has gotten worst and worst, and now there are those who believe that gender is something that is made up by the culture. LORD, have mercy on us and lead us back to sanity. In Jesus’s name. Amen.