I'm Your Huckleberry - Joelton CoC Ladies Class - 5/26/10

I should hand out popcorn - I have 3 movies references this week!!

Have you ever seen the movie Tombstone? It is a retelling of the life of Wyatt Earp, his brothers, and Doc Holliday and their standoff at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. In one scene, a member of the Clanton gang threatens Wyatt Earp on the streets of Tombstone, challenging him to a gunfight. Wyatt Earp declines the invitation. Doc Holliday, played by Val Kilmer, eases into the street. The Clanton guy yells at Earp and his brothers, “Aren’t any of you brave enough to fight me??” Doc Holliday casually says, “I’m your huckleberry.”

The settlers knew of a European berry called the hurlteberry. Finding a fruit that looked similar, the Americanized version of that word became huckleberry. The word huckleberry then came to refer to a small, insignificant person, a person of lower standing. Hence the title of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. He wanted to evoke a feeling of lower stature. Then over time, a phrase came into being, “I’m just a huckleberry over your persimmon.” This means I’m just a little bit better than you at that. This was then shortened to what Doc Holliday said in Tombstone, “I’m your huckleberry.” This means that he’s just a little bit better than someone else for the job, just the right person almost like he was made for the job. You may be small and unassuming, but if you’re someone’s huckleberry, then you are just the right person for the job they need done.

You might ask how does this apply to a ladies Bible class at Joelton?

If you were here last week, you got a tiny glimpse at what has been on my mind lately. I discovered a new word in the Bible that has really been on my heart. It has truly inspired me and made me have a sense of peace about my role as a wife and God’s plan and purpose for me.

Genesis 2:18 says, “The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

We know that God is perfect, God is love, God is divine. Everything that he makes, says, and does is perfection manifest. The helper is the being that God made for Adam. We know that if God made the helper then it must be perfect and complete. It must be just the thing for the job. It must be Adam’s Huckleberry.

Helper in this verse is a translation of the Hebrew word ezer kenegdo. Here are some other ways it has been translated.

help meet - KJV

helper suitable - NIV, NASB

helper comparable to him - NKJV

a suitable companion - the Message

a helper fit for him - ESV

a suitable partner for him - CEV

a helper who is just right for him - NLT

huckleberry - MBS (that’s me!)

Kenegdo means alongside, counterpart, or facing. Ezer is derived from 2 words meaning “power” and “strength.” So it could be said that God said, “I will make a strength and power alongside for him” or “I will make a powerful and strong counterpart for him.” Verse 20 of Genesis 2 says that after being in the Garden surrounded by animals of every kind, trees and plants of every kind, “No suitable helper was found.” “No suitable strength was found.” “No suitable power was found.”

The word ezer is used twenty-one times throughout the Bible, and in every other instance it is used to describe God himself, particularly when you REALLY need him to come though for you.

”There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides on the heavens to help you and on the clouds in his majesty.” (Deut. 33:26)

"Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword.” (Deut. 33:29)

'I lift up my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.' (Ps. 121:1-2)

'May the LORD answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May he send you help.' (Ps. 20:1-2)

'We wait in hope for the LORD, he is our help and our shield.' (Ps. 33:20)

When ezer is used to describe God, it is when the person in need of help is in desperate need of help, in need of a life saver. Most of these are in situations of life and death and God is your only hope, your only way out.

Why does man need an ezer?

It’s like the end of Pretty Woman. Julie Roberts tells Richard Gere all she wants is a knight on a white horse to come in with his banners flying to rescue her from the tower. In the last scene of the movie, Richard Gere shows up at her apartment and climbs the fire escape to her window. He is deathly afraid of heights. He says to her, “What happens to the knight after he rescues the maiden?” She says, “She rescues him back.” Why would man need to be rescued back?

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

Satan is on the move. He is looking for ways to undo us, to separate us from God. If Satan is on the prowl, looking to devour us, we need to be ready. So what does Satan look like?

I am reminded of a line from O Brother, Where Art Thou. The three heroes of the movie have just picked up Tommy at the crossroads. They ask Tommy what he is doing out there at the crossroads. He says he had a meeting with the devil. They ask, “What did he look like?” George Clooney’s character pipes us and explains that the devil is a red, scaly creature with a bifurcated tail and pitchfork. Tommy replies, “Oh, no, sir. He looked just like you fellows.”

2 Cor 11:12-15 says “And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.”

We are told right here what Satan looks like. He can look like an angel of light. His servants can look like a servant of righteousness. Or as Tommy in O Brother, Where Art Thou said, he can look just like you fellows, just like me.

Acts 13:10 tells us some of what he is up to. “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?” He is trying to trick us, to lead us astray. He is seeking to destroy us at every turn.

Mark 4:15 says he wants to rip the word out God out of our hearts, “Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.”

For those reasons, man needs an ezer. Man needs a lifesaver. It is a dangerous world for a person seeking God’s will. Just ask Joseph, Moses, Esther, Job, David, Abraham, Paul, Stephen, John the Baptist, ask Christ.

Last week I used the song Night with Ebon Pinion to describe the love Christ had for the church. This week I want us to listen to a song that I use to empower myself to stand against Satan. This song helps me remember from whom I should derive my power. It is not from my schooling, not from my achievements at work, not from my net worth, not from my family name. It is only from Jesus Christ himself.

IN CHRIST ALONE

In Christ alone my hope is found

He is my light, my strength, my song

This Cornerstone, this solid ground

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease

My Comforter, my All in All

Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh

Fullness of God in helpless babe

This gift of love and righteousness

Scorned by the ones He came to save

'Till on that cross as Jesus died

The wrath of God was satisfied

For every sin on Him was laid

Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay

Light of the world by darkness slain

Then bursting forth in glorious Day

Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory

Sin's curse has lost it's grip on me

For I am His and He is mine

Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death

This is the power of Christ in me

From life's first cry to final breath

Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man

Can ever pluck me from His hand

'Till He returns or calls me home

Here in the power of Christ I'll stand

No power of hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck me from his hand. Here in the power of Christ I stand. Through Christ’s power I will figure this out. I will be molded into the person God wants me to be.

I have mulled this new word, ezer kenegdo, over for the past couple of weeks. I can’t figure out how to adequately express to you how much this means to me. I can’t figure out how to transmit to you the gravity of this word.

There are moments in my life when I feel almost like I am floating above myself and viewing my life from the outside. I can see the big picture. I can catch a glimpse of the design. I guess really what it is is seeing a piece of God. When I get very still and quiet and let this word, this verse seep into me, I can see the big picture. I can see the point.

I know that not everyone in this class struggles with the submission issue. Like I said last week, there are certain things that do not tempt me, that are not stumbling blocks to me. This just happens to be one for me.

I feel like this word and the true meaning of it, and not the meaning assigned to it by the translators, is who I am. I feel refreshed by this word. It really has brought me a great deal of peace when thinking about submission. The God who designed me to be like Him – to provide a strength and power to someone in need – asks me to arrange myself in order under my husband. He designed me perfectly, made me my husband’s Huckleberry. So how can I question his request to arrange myself in order under my husband? And furthermore, I know that hupotasso (submit) is a military term. With Satan roaming around like a lion seeking to devour me, I get that my family will only succeed if there is order in the ranks.

I was sharing this word ezer kenegdo with a friend last week and wondering why I had never been told by anyone as a child, in Christian marriage counseling, in ladies classes, that I was designed to be a strong counterpart, a life line for my husband. She said that she had some of the same questions. Why she was taught that the only definition of a good wife was to completely forsake your identity, to become a martyr? I hope that everyone else in this class is getting a least a smidgen of what I am receiving personally from this. My eyes have been opened, my heart softened, by what I have learned. I can be myself and have my opinions and still be every bit as much of a Christian wife as one who isn’t as opinionated. I can be a powerful, strong lifeline for my husband – actually I am designed to be so! I hope that you can find your strength and power and that you have clarity and a glimpse of God’s plan. Thank you for working through this with me.