Desire

Excerpt from Chapter One…

To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”  (NKJV)

 What is this desire for her husband that God talks about here?  It is a desire for a godly marriage borne of God and placed deep within the heart of every woman. 

The word “desire” in Genesis 3:16 is translated from the Hebrew word tesh-oo-kaw’  which, in the original sense, means to stretch out after.  And while we are stretching out after our husbands, they are doing what God has placed in their hearts to do:  rule over us.  The Hebrew word Mashal (pronounced maw-shal’ ) is translated “rule” in Genesis 3:16 and means “to rule, have dominion, reign.” 

When I first saw the definition of desire from the Hebrew perspective, a lot of things suddenly made sense to me.  As a young bride, I naively wanted to love and please my husband completely. 

In spite of knowing that he loved me, I felt like I could never quite make him happy.  Oh, there were moments, even days, of what could be called happy; but for the most part, I strived to make him happy.  Like stretching for something too high in the cupboard and being unable to grasp it, I just kept stretching, even jumping at times, hoping to reach what I wanted.  My heart felt bruised, and at times, broken. 

Like many other wives, I have been wounded and defeated in my pursuit of my husband.  My wounding was not necessarily due to anything he did wrong.  I just misplaced my efforts in seeking his approval instead of God’s.  Does this ring any bells with you? 

(Excerpt from Chapter One of Your Desire Shall be for Your Husband – all rights reserved by author)