Campus CrossWalk Magazine: 2007 Summer Issue -- Grace for Women Disgraced

True beauty is described well here by Paul:: ““Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Do you recall the story of Tamar? King David had several wives and a boatload of children, many who were half-siblings. Amnon, one of David’s sons, fell in love with his half-sister, Tamar, whose full brother was Absalom. The Bible says Amnon became “frustrated to the point of illness” over his beautiful, virgin, half-sister who was out of his reach. Amnon’s cousin, Jonadab, conspires with him to trap Tamar alone in order to take advantage of her. Tamar, who you remember is the King’s daughter and wearing the beautifully ornamented robes that signified her pure state, does everything she can to remain pure including offering to marry Amnon. But he refused to listen and “since he was stronger than she, he raped her.”

Then, immediately, he hates her more than he had ever loved her. He sent her away as she pleads not to be disgraced. He has his servants kick her out and bolt the door. Tamar put ashes on her head and tore her robe and went away weeping.

When Absalom finds out, he lets her live in his house. 2 Samuel 13:20 says Tamar remained “a desolate woman”. King David finds out and is furious but does nothing. Two years go by and Absalom kills Amnon and then goes into exile.

This story sounds like it could have been the plot of a modern, block-buster movie but it is three thousand years old. Satan has been lying to men and women and they have been believing him for all of history.

The Bible portrays womanhood as a thing of honor, purity and value. Proverbs 31 says a wife of noble character is worth far more than rubies. Of course Mary, a virgin, was the woman chosen of God for the remarkable task of being mother to the Messiah. Women were last at the cross and first at the tomb, and in 1 Peter, the promise is stated that the purity and reverence of a woman toward her husband is just what is needed to win an unbelieving husband to the Lord.

Why, then, if the Bible lifts up so many beautiful examples of women and womanhood, do we see an almost constant use and portrayal of women on TV and in magazines in impure and undignified ways?

I’ll tell you why! Satan is actively pedaling the demoralization of women! Beth Moore, in her Bible study Breaking Free, lists several examples of Satan’s lies and the stranglehold they have on our world today. Consider these:

Billboards suggesting women were made for sensual pleasures and little more.
Products that have nothing to do with women blatantly use their sex appeal to advertise things like fishing equipment, restaurants and real estate.
Alarming numbers of teens are seeking breast implants and liposuction with the approval of their parents who have also been fooled by Satan.
Influential women teaching hatred of men, even rewriting a version of the Bible with female references to God rather than male. All this reveals are unhealthy emotions.
Growing acceptance of lesbianism as a way to strike back.

Paul wrote; “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12)

There will come a time when women who have allowed themselves to be fooled by Satan’s lies and given themselves to be used for impure reasons will eventually feel like Tamar did – desolate. Satan convinces them they are no longer worthy to have honor and dignity. He convinces women they must spend more and more money to feel more desirable and less guilty and ugly. But this is just more lies.

Tamar’s brother, Absalom, could not restore her honorable position of purity by slaying her attacker. Tamar’s father, the king, did not try to help her either.

However, if you have put on Christ then you have put on the beautiful, jeweled robes of purity, you have become an heir of the Most High King. Christ offers the renewal of your purity and honor through faith and repentance.

No child of the King deserves mistreatment of disrespect. Allow the Holy Spirit to mend up your torn robes and restore your dignity and teach you to walk in purity.

Lee Burdett is an alumnus of the Auburn Christian Student Center’s campus ministry (Auburn University), and the Meridian Woods church of Christ campus ministry (Florida State University) where she met her husband. They helped to establish a campus ministry in Gainesville, FL with University City church of Christ. She lives in Altamonte Springs, FL, and enjoys her two children.