A Woman's Greatest Need

INTRODUCTION

 Today is the day that we take time to celebrate the one of the most hallowed of holidays, Mother’s Day!

 By the way, how many of your children or husbands gave you the water meter reading? I know one of our ladies who ruined it for her husband, I hope he was able to find a gift that was as wonderful and heartwarming as reading the water meter.

 As you searched the planet for a gift for your mother or your wife, what were you thinking about? Were you looking for a gift that would really surprise her? Were you looking for something practical, like a shovel? Were you looking for something romantic? Are you one of those lucky husbands whose wife is not shy about telling what they want, or are you one of those lucky husbands whose wife will really like whatever you get them, like a new deer rifle?

 My quest for a Mother’s day gift for my wife is easy. “What do you want Robyn?” We usually go to the Wal-Mart or a nursery and I buy her plants for the yard.

 Have you ever noticed with women, that sometimes it does not matter what gift you get her, but it is how you give it to her? When I get gifts, I do not put much thought into what kind of paper to wrap it in or what card to get, I figure if I am putting out the cash for the gift, that is good enough. For the woman, many times the gift-wrap and the card are more important than the gift itself.

 Have you ever noticed that in general, men and women are different?

 Our society does what it can to blur the lines between men and women, but the fact is we are different. Men and women are wired different, we have different things that motivate us and we usually look at life and relationships in a different light.

 Men and women have different needs; today I want us to look a woman’s greatest need.

 I hope today’s message will help the men today, we are sometimes a little slow to catch on

 I have a scripture that we help us in this pursuit. Ephesians 5:32 says, “This mystery is great:”

 Sigmund Freud, after thirty years of research into the feminine soul, said, “I have not yet been able to answer the great question, ‘What does a woman want?’”

 What is a woman’s greatest need?

SERMON

I. HER GREATEST NEED

A. When God created us, He created male and female.

1. God did not create us as mirrors of each other; God created us to complement one another.

2. In the beginning, everything was perfect, until sin entered the picture.

3. Once sin entered the picture, things were corrupted, even the relationship between men and women. Let’s look at Genesis 3:16.

B. READ GENESIS 3:16

1. This is part of the section that deals with the punishment for Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God.

2. Notice that the woman’s curse is a twofold one. She will have much pain in childbirth and she has a consequence with her husband.

3. In this passage we see a fracture in the relationship between the man and woman.

4. Before the fall I believe that Eve had a desire for Adam, but after the fall that changed.

5. A simple reading of the passage seems like women are meant to be slaves of their husbands, but that is not what this passage really says.

C. A look at the passage

1. A woman’s greatest need is the need for intimacy.

2. When we looked at the goal of marriage, we saw that God intended on two becoming one. This really ties into what a woman wants from her husband.

3. Because of the Fall this need was corrupted so that “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you” (Gen. 3:16). Because of the “corruption,” this desire for intimacy must be managed.

4. The Hebrew word desire literally means “a desire bordering on disease, an intense longing for.” In other words, her need for intimacy can make her sick of heart when her husband does not give her enough of himself or manipulates her emotions.

5. The passage saying that the woman will have an intense desire for her husband, that she will want him to take care of her. This flies in the face of EXTREME feminism that says, “I do not need a man.” Quite honestly, the way many men are today, I can understand how this thinking can get started.

D. What is intimacy?

1. Intimacy means I know who you are at the deepest level, and I accept you.