A Beautiful Harmony

The song by Michael W. Smith called “Prince of Peace” is an absolutely beautiful song. It not only is a wonderfully composed and beautifully harmonious composition, it also displays the beauty that is manifest in the relationship between men and women as they relate to God. The song begins with the men singing, and the women echoing the same things that the men are singing, and then the men and women separate into two very different choruses that, when put together, creates a gorgeous expression of worship through music that highlights how men and women were meant to relate as God’s sons and daughters; brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.

In Genesis, God created woman because “It is not good for the man to be alone (Genesis 2:18).” He created Eve as a helper to Adam, but more than that, a companion that was to share both in his work, and in his admiration of God. Throughout the Bible, men have a distinct role as the head of the woman. However, just because man is placed as the head of the woman, that does not, by any means, diminish the role of women in God’s Kingdom and the body of Christ. Women have also ,throughout the Bible, often played a redeeming role in their relationship to men. Without Sarah, Isaac would not have been born to Abraham (Genesis 17), and the Messianic line would never have been. Without Ester, the entire Jewish nation would have been eradicated (Ester 1-10). Without Rahab, the spies sent by Joshua would have been found out and never been able to report back about Jericho (Joshua 2). Without Ruth, the Messianic line would have been cut off (Ruth 1-4, Matthew 1:5). Without Hannah, Samuel, who was responsible for putting David on the throne of Israel, would have never been born (1 Samuel 1). Without Abigail, David would have, in his anger, sinned and lost the Lord’s favor (1 Samuel 25). My point is, though men have an immensely important role in God’s plan and Kingdom, so do women.

As both men and women seek to follow and glorify Christ, it is also our respective responsibilities to help each other glorify the Lord even more than we could ever do on our own. For men, this means leading and serving those around us; honoring women as our sisters and letting them speak encouragements and exhortations into our lives. For women, this means encouraging, serving, and letting men do their part by letting yourselves be served. Of course, these aren’t the only roles that we have, and these distinctions are by no means black and white, but as a general picture, I believe that this is what it will look like for men and women to live together for the one purpose which we were meant for, which is to honor and glorify God in Jesus Christ.

When this happens, the result is a beautiful harmony created by each party doing what they were meant to do, and receiving what the other was meant to give. Both men and women, when living as they were meant, will naturally fit together like pieces of a jig-saw puzzle. Each has a space that the other was meant to fill, and each has a role that the other was meant to compliment. Together, we get a fuller picture of both the love and character of God, and what it looks like to follow and glorify Christ.

Just like in Michael W. Smith’s song, both men and women, up front, have the same goal, to worship and follow Christ, but as the song goes on, they separate into their respective parts and create a beautiful tapestry of God-glorifying words and melodies that complement each other and fit together perfectly, each melody filling spaces in the other. Each chorus, by itself would be a wonderful song and a Christ-glorifying statement, but only when they are sung together do we see the beauty of how the song is supposed to sound. Sung separately, the melodies are nice; kind to the ear. But only when they are sung together, when the one fills the other’s empty places, and the other compliments the one, do we see just how beautiful the song really is.