Men, if we are meant to engage in epic battles, to live in crucial adventures, and to offer rescue to our beauties, how can these go astray?

The song says that they looked for love in all the wrong places. One of our entanglements is when we look for our strength in all the wrong places.

O Lord, my strength and my stronghold, And my refuge in the day of distress, Jer. 16:19

How often do you ask the Lord for strength before the difficult conversation, the need to humble yourself, the complex business meeting, or the challenging task? How often do you go to the Lord for refuge ? Are these even categories you live within? What do you do instead? We can . . .

Rely on our “golden bats”

In the movie The Natural, the character Roy Hobbs is a naturally gifted baseball player who believes he needs his special “golden” bat to succeed. When it is finally broken he thinks he is ruined, only to realize he’d relied far too long on that bat after he got the crucial hit without his “crutch”. What do you rely upon outside of God for your strength? How would you feel if you could come through without having to rely upon your golden bat?

Expect our beauties to rate us as men

What does it feel like to be respected by your girlfriend or wife? In Ephesians 5:33 it says that “the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.” It is part of God’s design that by this act, men are inspired and feel supported. But can we relinquish our desire to battle, to live in adventure, and to rescue, if our wife does not respect us?

But we take it a step farther. We expect our beauties to be our rating.

“Honey, can you tell me if I am a man. Can you give me the strength that I need?”

How does this request sit in your stomach?

By giving our beauties our “report card,” we ask them to offer far beyond their identity as ezer knegdo’s, expecting them to take the place of God. This exhausts and frustrates them as they are waiting for us to offer our strength without their having to be the source of that strength. The latter is destructively circular.

So what can we do?

If we are honest, we know we’ve relied on things or people other than God to be our strength, stronghold, or refuge. Want to grow out of this? Give God permission to father you away from these reliances and into an ever-deeper relationship with Him. He’ll then become more and more your source of power.