The First Lady Series

Only one president of the United States was a bachelor as president, and

that was Grover Cleveland. All others had wives, and these First Ladies of

our land have had an enormous influence on history. Martha Washington was

the first First Lady of the United States. She, like other wives in those early

days of the Revolutionary War, spent 8 winters with her husband General

Washington in the field. This included the terrible winter of Valley Forge.

She helped keep the Revolutionary Army together. She sewed their tattered

clothes, and she ministered to their needs, and help keep up moral.

When she was not involved in the war, she was at Mount Vernon managing

their 8 thousand acre plantation. She set the pattern as a true help mate.

Many other first ladies have played a major role in the lives of the men who

governed our nation. Lucy Webb Hayes, wife of President Rutherford Hayes,

gained quite a reputation for her influence. When she was informed of an

injustice there could be quick action to rectify the situation. President Hayes

once said, "Mr. Hayes may have no influence with congress, but she has great

influence with me."

Women have always been a major force in history, if for no other reason,

because of their influence on men. Never was this more true than when there

was only one woman and one man. When we go back to the first of all first

ladies, we see a woman centered world. God's attention was focused on the

female, for she was the one that prevented creation from being complete.

Adam was alone, and he had learned all he could about the animal kingdom,

but there was nothing alive that satisfied his need. God said that it was not

good for man to be alone, and so He put the final finishing touch on His

handiwork, and He made Eve.

She immediately became the center of Adam's attention and affection. The

very first poem ever composed on earth was composed by Adam when he saw

what God could make out of a rib. He took one look at Eve and forgot all

about his surgery. He said, "Now this is more like it. This at last is bone of

my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was

taken out of man." Had Adam been an Englishman he may have put it more

like this:

She, she is bone of my bone,

And flesh of my flesh is she;

Woman her name, which is grown

Out of man, out of me.

It is fitting that history's first poetry should be in celebration of a woman.

Most poetry since has been inspired by the male female relationship. Woman

came from man's rib, but she has never been a mere side issue with him. She

has always been a central issue because of her influence on men. Not only was

she the focus of God and man, but as we read on in the story we discover she

was also the center of the satanic plot to destroy paradise, and bring about the

fall of man. The fact that Satan chose to make Eve his first target reveals just

how subtle and clever he really is. She was the only living creature that had a

powerful enough influence on Adam to bring him to disobey God. The serpent

would not have gotten to first base with Adam, nor would any other creature

Satan might use to entice him. There was only one choice, and that was Eve.

The Genesis account makes it clear that there is one theme on which God,

man, and Satan all agree, and that is that you can't win without a woman.

God could not stop creating until He created a woman. Adam could not be

content with a perfect paradise without a woman. Satan could not have

penetrated Adam's defenses without a woman. W. B. Riley, the well known

preacher back in the 1930's said,

They talk about a woman's sphere,

As though it had a limit;

There's not a place on earth or heaven,

There's not a task to mankind given,

There's not a blessing or a woe,

There's not a life, a death, or birth,

That has a feather's weight of worth,

Without a woman in it.

That poetry is based squarely on the rock of revelation. Look at the big

events of Bible history, and you will see women as key characters for good or

evil: The fall, of course, and the wives of the patriarchs-Sarah, Rebekah, and

Rachel; the mother and sister of Moses; the wives of David and Solomon;

Esther and Ruth; Mary and Elizabeth; the many women in the ministry of

Jesus, and the women at the cross and the resurrection. These are just some of