Suitable Helpers

In defiance of the ice and snow storms bearing down on us, we had Little League sign-ups yesterday.  Spring is scheduled to arrive, whether winter agrees or not.  And when it does, you will find Valentin boys in the baseball fields.

When our kids first started playing baseball and softball, we noticed that early players have a complete misunderstanding of their job in the field.  Left-fielders, right-fielders, and center-fielders would notoriously stand in “their spot” and watch balls fly past them—sailing through the air or bouncing past them on the ground.  When coaches and spectators would call out to them, “That was your ball!” the kids would stare back in confusion.  “My ball? But it wasn’t in my spot!” –as though the ball and the glove had to have some sort of magnetic relationship that would ping the baseball directly into the glove, just like it does on the Wii.  It took a few practices (or even seasons . . .) to convince some of those little players that fielding is a running sport.  You go where the ball is.  It rarely (if ever) comes right to you.  

 
As wives, we are defined in the Bible by our mission.  Like a fielder whose job is defined by where he stands in a game, we are defined as “helpmeets” to our husbands.  Modern usage has reduced that to one word, but in the Bible it is actually two words:  “help” and “meet,” or “helper suitable.”  Suitable helper. 

 
Don’t let the broadness of “suitable” be mistaken for ambiguity.  It’s a big field out here, but that’s not meant as an excuse to miss the ball.  It just means that your job involves a lot of running. 

 
Sometimes the baseball is hit high in the air—sailing well over the heads of infielders into a beautiful, predictable arch that gives us fielders lots of time to anticipate its landing and position ourselves.  Those are the easy catches.  Batters hardly have a chance on those. 

 
But sometimes that ball flies crazy.  It might crash into foul territory, out of reach of the third baseman.    We’re supposed to be there—and get him out on the foul.  Sometimes it hits the ground so fast the pitcher misses it—and so does the second baseman.  Bouncing crazily, ricocheting off every rock and dip in the field, it’s like catching a bullet in a pinball machine.  We’re supposed to be there, too, and get the batter out at second.   

 
Every swing takes a different turn.  A tall player gets up to bat, and we all take a step back.  But then he hits it just between the second baseman and the shortstop.  We have to sprint to catch up to the ball and “be there” for that one too. And sometimes the catcher gets wild and overthrows the third baseman.  That’s ours too--get it back into the infield. 

 
In the heat of a July game, it’s tempting to whine about how things are going.  “The other guys keep hitting the ball over our heads!  And my teammates make so many mistakes!”  But you are the fielder, right?  You get every ball.  Stop reading about other ball games, where everything went perfectly well, the hits all landed in mitts, and no one even had to break a sweat.  This is your game, and you are ready for anything.  You are “suitable.” 

 
It doesn’t do any good to complain about where the ball landed.  So you were expecting it to come to your mitt?  But it didn’t.  We have to race after it, even though this isn’t the game we might have thought we were signing up for.  The game has taken a turn from when it first started?  We have to adjust and sprint anyway.   

 

Every game is different.  My game is different from your game.  “Suitable” means you do what it takes to help.  Some husbands need an accountability partner for their drug rehab.  Others need someone who can hold down the fort while he travels on back-to-back business trips.  Wherever the baseball is hit—you catch it.  That’s your job.  After a while this job can begin to seem impossible:  No player is perfect, and this season is all game—no practices. 

 

True.  But have you met our team’s Owner?   

 

Unlike any other owner in baseball, He doesn’t have box seats with air-conditioning and steak dinners, where He and His friends can critique and cheer and celebrate.  This Owner stands in the field with you.  When that baseball is coming at you at 120 miles per hour, he runs with you and helps you stop it.  When it’s 98 degrees outside, and the other fans have gone home, and nothing in the game seems to be going right, He gives you the strength, the speed, and the precision to catch the ball.  Every. Time. 

 

To be honest, some of the baseball games out there intimidate me.  Some of you are locked in marriages that break my heart.  Past mistakes haunt you—from offender registries or DUI mug shots still posted online.  Substance abuse, anger, pornography, mental illness, gambling addictions—the tragedies seem endless.  I have cried and prayed with you, and walked away haunted by your stories.  Lurking beneath the surface, the doubt whispers, “This too?  Can God handle this too?”   

 

But I know our Owner.  He paid an incredible price for this team:  His own life.  For those who have asked Jesus Christ to be their Savior, His promise is not hollow:

 

“According as His divine power hath given unto us

all things that pertain unto life and godliness . . .”  (II Peter 1:3).

 

All things.  It’s all there.  Whatever you and I need to be a “suitable” helper, ready to help our husbands as God wants us to--we’ve got it!  Not in ourselves, by personality or education, but through Jesus.   

 

If your husband is a pastor, with huge pressures on his time, finances, and marriage—you’ve got what you need to be a great pastor’s wife.  If your husband is disabled and needs you to take care of him 24/7—you’ve got what it takes to be a strong, cheerful caregiver.  If your husband has addictions that are tearing apart your family, you have what it takes to be creative and wise in your solutions, to protect yourself and your children without compromising your marriage vows.  If your husband is crippled by emotional handicaps, God has given you everything you need to obey the Biblical command and be a suitable helper. 

 

So, however your game is going, and wherever that ball gets hit—whoever your husband is, and whatever your marriage challenges are:  If you are a Christian, you have everything it takes to be a suitable helper: 

 

Through Jesus.