The Sacred Strength in a Woman

There are words in the Bible that have been misunderstood for so long that they quietly shaped the way people see one another. And sometimes, those misunderstandings have weighed heavily on the hearts of women.

One of those words is “helper.”

For many, it sounds small. Secondary. Like someone standing in the background. But the original word used in Genesis to describe woman is not the small word we made it into.

The word is ezer.

And ezer does not mean weak.

It does not mean lesser.

It does not mean silent support tucked behind someone else’s strength.

Ezer means strength. It means rescuer. It means lifesaving help.

Most beautifully of all… God uses this same word to describe Himself.

“Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help (ezer) and our shield.” — Psalm 33:20

“I lift my eyes to the mountains—where does my help (ezer) come from? My help comes from the Lord.” — Psalm 121:1–2

The very word used for woman in Genesis is the same word used for God when He shows up as strength, refuge, and deliverer.

So when God created woman and called her ezer, He was not creating a sidekick.

He was revealing a sacred kind of strength.

Not loud.

Not boastful.

But powerful in the way that presence saves lives.

And I think about how much this changes everything.

It changes how a woman should see herself.

It changes how the world should treat her.

It changes how relationships should look.

A woman was never meant to be an accessory to someone else’s purpose.

She was created with her own God-given weight of glory.

Her own holy strength.

Her own calling to protect, to heal, to intercede, to build, to stand.

An ezer doesn’t exist to shrink.

An ezer shows up when things are on the brink.

An ezer steps in when something sacred is at risk.

And isn’t that what so many women quietly do every single day?

They carry families when everything feels like it’s falling apart.

They pray when no one else sees a way forward.

They nurture what is fragile.

They stand when their own knees are shaking.

They love even when love costs them deeply.

Not because they are weak.

But because they were created strong in a way this world often fails to recognize.

God didn’t make woman as an afterthought.

He made her as an answer.

An answer to loneliness.

An answer to chaos.

An answer to the gaps where strength and compassion must meet.

The world has spent generations trying to quiet the voice of women, shrink their influence, and reduce their worth to what they give rather than who they are. But God has never once looked at a woman and seen “less.”

He sees ezer.

He sees strength that heals.

He sees courage that holds.

He sees faith that refuses to quit.

He sees a heart capable of carrying both fire and tenderness at the same time.

And maybe the most healing part of all this…

If God calls Himself ezer,

and He also calls woman ezer,

then woman was never meant to walk in shame.

She was meant to walk in the quiet confidence of knowing:

She reflects something of God’s own strength.

Not dominance.

Not control.

But holy, life-preserving strength.

And maybe it’s time we stop seeing women through the lens of what they “should be”

and start seeing them the way God always has—

As sacred strength wrapped in grace.

Until next time,