The Fragile Nature of Husbands
Robert’s Ramblings for April 26, 2015
On my way to a sermon about men loving their wives (Colossians 3:19), I came across the story of David and Michal in 2nd Samuel 6. Needless to say, sermon preparation is replete with rabbit trails that have you wandering about without direction, red herrings that lead you off topic, and more-interesting topics than the one assigned by the passage. After nearly forty years of doing this, I just consider it the price I must pay for being The Pulpiteer! The guy in the pulpit who weekly delivers good looks, witty phrases, and brilliant insights into life on planet Earth. Sometimes, however, I get an idea. Here is one for this week.
King David was excited about what was going to happen as he led the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. He went Pentecostal in a big way, but his wife wasn’t happy with his performance. The story is simple enough, Michal made sarcastic comments about his behavior as he danced and sang as the Ark was carried into town. Once alone, she rebuked him for his seemingly foolish carrying-on. I believe she embarrassed him at first, but the embarrassment quickly turned to anger, and the anger killed his love for her.
This reminded me of a quote I recently read by Walter Trobisch (author of I Loved a Girl).
"I believe that a man can be more easily hurt inwardly and mortally wounded in his heart than can a woman. Suicide rates for men are higher than for women. I have no doubt that the ego of a man is more fragile than that of a woman. . . . The role which we men cannot play comfortably is that of being the strong sex. We strain and strain at it and still our performance is not very credible. We may have illusions about ourselves in our early years, but later on in our marriages we find that we cannot earn much applause for our efforts. The real woman sees through the pretensions and would like to ask her husband to be just a kind human being and not some sort of superman."
Here's the deal: Inside every man is a fragile little boy who sucks his thumb, and women don't get it!. That little boy is easily damaged, either by a father or a wife. For a wife to protect her husband, she must become very much aware of this incredibly fragile nature within even manly looking men. It may be for this reason that in both Colossians 3 and Ephesians 5, the Apostle Paul begins with the women, rather than the husband. I believe the wife is the key to her man’s self-image and success in life.
In Proverbs 31:31, the work of the wife’s hands should praise her in the gate. I hope I am not stretching the interpretation but I believe the most important work of her hands is her husband who sits in the gates of the city with the elders of the land (Proverbs 31:23).
A husband’s well-being and success in this life is largely dependent on the honor that his wife gives him as the head of her home.