By: Tekoa Manning
Everything God created was designed with a covering. Trees have bark to protect their sap and spices. Many animals like lobsters, crabs, and turtles, are encased with their own suit of armor. We humans have our own casings as well.
A turtle is designed with a shell that is attached to its spine and its rib cage. A turtle is naked even when it is in its shell because its backbone (Exoskeleton) is located outside the body rather than inside. If trauma occurs and the shell is ripped off, death will happen immediately. We women are similar.
My husband and I were at a ceremony the other day and I noticed a young girl there with her parents. When I say young, I am guessing she was around 14 or 15 years of age. Not that age matters because this message is for women of all ages. What I noticed first about this beautiful young lady was not her silky blonde hair, her flawless complexion or her startling sea blue eyes. No, what I noticed first were her long attractive legs that went on for days.
This young lady had on a navy blue and red striped dress. The dress had three quarter inch sleeves, a round, modest neck-line and then sadly the length stopped just past what I would consider the crotch area. These dresses are called babydoll dresses and some are shorter than others. This one was so short it needed pantalets underneath it, like Shirley Temple wore, and the high spiked heels only added to the picture.
The young lady with the sparkling blue eyes had the attention of many men in the room. They all would remember her more than likely for one reason… her legs. Even at her young age, our Heavenly Father has already picked out the perfect husband for her. This young girl’s legs will belong to him one day. Any part of her body in a sense, is already taken and there should be a “No-Vacancy” sign lit up.
Love is a word often misconstrued today. Would this young lady be angry if her father would have made her put on more modest attire? Would she consider him mean, uncool and unloving? Truth is, it would be better for him to make her mad now then to allow her to face a spiritual death later. Her father may have to watch her marry a man, later on, who loves her outward body (her shell) but knows nothing about her inward parts or their sacredness. Remember the turtles shell is attached to its inward parts. The bible says, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” Proverbs 4:23 NLT.
Shouldn’t we be guarding our hearts and what belongs to our future husbands? Even the men who sometimes seem harmless can cause us harm.
There was a man in the bible named Amnon and he fell in love with a beautiful woman named Tamar. The bible says he eventually became obsessed to the point he made himself ill. He had to have her! “She was a virgin, and it seemed impossible for him to do anything to her.” 2nd Samuel 13:2 NIV. He wanted her so badly he acted as if he were sick. Amnon, asked his father King David, to send Tamar to bake him food so that he might feel better. Once he had her alone he began to seduce her, but she begged him not too. Her virginity and inward parts were sacred to her. Virginity is something almost absent today. Many times, us women think that if we dress a certain way perhaps the men we are interested in will notice us and of course they will but possibly not in the right manner. Many feel pressured to sleep with them in order to keep them.
The startling end to this story is a message that speaks loudly. After Amnon had his way with her the scripture says, “Then Amnon hated her with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he had loved her. Amnon said to her, “Get up and get out!” 2nd Samuel 13:15 NIV.
With his actions and his words he had ripped her tortoise shell off and left her with a grieving spirit. She begged him to make things right and marry her, but he continued to yell for her to leave. The next verses our heartbreaking!
“He called his personal servant and said, “Get this woman out of my sight and bolt the door after her.” “She was wearing an ornate robe, for this was the kind of garment the virgin daughters of the king wore. Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the ornate robe she was wearing. She put her hands on her head and went away, weeping aloud as she went.” 2nd Samuel 13:17-19 NIV.
Tamar ripped off her ornate robe because she had just lost her virginity. She lost it because it had been taken from her, not because she gave it away. She was keeping herself covered. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” NASB.
What can you wear on the outside that let’s men know you are holy and set a part?
Photo Cred: Chelsea Steller
Tekoa Manning is the author of two fiction works, Polishing Jade & Walter the Homeless Man. After a neurological illness left her disabled and eventually homeless, Tekoa began to channel her creativity into writing and devouring the Word of Yahweh. She is the wife of a retired police chief and the mother of three sons. Tekoa and her husband reside in a small town in KY. The pen name Tekoa means Trumpet, the instrument that unites people at a sudden impulse.
You can find out more about Tekoa and her writing endeavors at tekoamanning.com
