Ezer: Re-Imagining Helper

Jenn Richards

Jenn Richards is an Associate Pastor at Tapestry Nights, the Saturday night campus of The Tapestry Church in Richmond, BC. She holds an MDiv from Regent College and loves the food, exploring cities, reading fiction, and playing with her nieces.

There is likely other line in Scripture that has haunted women like Genesis 2:18: “But for Adam no suitable helper was found…Then the Lord God made a woman…”.  The term “helper” was given to women before women even existed.  This word in the Hebrew language is ezer.  “To ezer” is to help and much has been assumed about this verb.  One theological slant is that to help means to come alongside, to do what needs to be done, to fill the gaps.  And though this is all true, it’s not completely true and we get into trouble when we don’t seek to keep the full truth in mind.  The reason this classic definition of helper is not fully true is because it doesn’t encompass the full range the verb is used in the Biblical narrative.  We encounter ezer 14 times in Scripture and almost all of its occurrences are connected to God.  Scripture boldly paints a picture of God as a helper. So what kind of help does God offer? We see a help that’s militant-like strength in Psalm 115:9, a help that rescues in Deuteronomy 33:26, and a help that’s essential allyship Hosea 13:9.  Our Scriptures associate ezer with a God who is active, creative, and strong.

And with this reframe of helper, suddenly I find a longing in my soul bubbles up to grow my ezer qualities and in particular, grow in becoming more and more of an ezer leader. So, with this rich ezer imagery as the wind in our sails, I offer you three elements that come with moving towards ezer leadership.

Firstly, ezer leadership assumes God’s ezer involvement. It assumes God is always helping, always supporting, and always actively involved.  Within my own leadership, the problems come when I assume I’m the ultimate ezer.  This shift from hoping for God’s help to assuming God’s help is seemingly small but utterly significant when played out.  We’ve likely all experienced the vast difference of planning an event alone, from a birthday party to a church or work event, versus planning something in partnership with a talented and invested friend.  Being an ezer leader means walking into all spaces with the confidence of the latter, for it assumes all spaces are places Ezer God is at work and is actively helping.

Secondly, an ezer leader steps into situations bigger than themselves.  I have lost sleep and increased my grey hair count because of this one.  It’s incredibly easy to keep our ideas to what feels reasonably comfortable, but an ezer leader looks beyond themselves and turns their attention both towards God and others. An ezer leader trusts both their instinct and the facts because they know both are given by God and this is what good helpers do. An ezer leader dares to dream bigger than themselves and step into arenas bigger than their capabilities. An ezer leader makes plans that will fail if God and others do not help.    

Finally, an ezer leader makes big asks of others  At the present time, much of my leadership plays out in the form of pastoring, a job that requires regularly making big asks of volunteers. Though this task certainly comes with its stresses and disappointments, I’ve learned there is a unique thread of joy found in an ask because it means I get to say:  “This is what I see in you and so would you consider doing ______?”.  I’m learning that a bold ask is often a win/win situation.  Either the person will say “yes” or they say “no” but have been given a glimpse into the gifts within them they may have never considered existed. Furthermore, the bold questions of ezer leadership go even further when not only bold questions are asked, but hard and messy ones are as well. Ezer leaders ask the questions that aren’t being asked, ones that may rock the boat or slow the train of progress down. Even when the moment passes, an ezer leader remembers it’s never too late to circle back, for it’s never too late to be brave.   

I have the privilege of seeing so many ezer leaders, both women and men, exercising their God-given gifts in the spaces I move within.  Diverse leaders who do not always fit the typical leadership boxes (thank goodness for that) but who display the image of God in the way they help.  And though at times it’s exhausting to think about what it means to join their ranks, saying yes means entering into a particular type of holy troublemaking that has been at work by the One who is our ever-present help since the Garden of Eden.