Question:

How does a woman having long hair and wearing a covering when praying or prophesying fit together?

I know that it all fits together so I want to know how it does.

Answer:
The head covering, and a woman’s hair, are both coverings, and one way they fit together is that they both have to do with “glory,” and primarily the glory of Christ and God.

Man should not wear a covering when praying or prophesying because he is “the image [or the representative] and glory of God” (1 Corinthians 11:7). “The woman is man’s glory” (1 Corinthians 11:7), therefore she is to wear a head covering to hide man’s glory when praying or prophesying.
Also, a woman’s “long hair…is glory to her” (1 Corinthians 11:15), therefore she should wear long hair. Notice it does not say “how long”! But it certainly should be longer than a man’s, so that there is no question that she is a woman.
So man is God’s glory, the woman is man’s glory, and the woman’s hair is her glory. It was said at a recent Conference: “To cover or not to cover is a small thing in itself, but its significance is a very great thing.” It is God’s glory that is before us.We trust these thoughts will be of help to you and to others. May the Lord use the Scriptures to lead you, and each of the young people and all of us on in His precious truth. We are praying to that end.

Question:
Is a woman’s hair a covering? It appears that it is from 1 Corinthians 11:15: “If a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.”

Answer:
Yes, a woman’s hair is “a covering,” but 1 Corinthians 11:6 makes it clear that the Lord desires women to wear another covering (as well as her hair) when praying or prophesying. “For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.”

Notice we are told that if she is not “covered” she might as well be shamefully “shorn,” or have all her hair cut off! So the covering she is to wear is more than her hair.
You also go on to ask: “I have heard it said that if women have hair that is not all chopped off and is long (and I guess that that is up to every individual before God to decide) it is a covering. Yet I just don’t see how that ties in with wearing a head covering.”First Corinthians 11:15 says: “But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her.” The more a woman hides herself the more beautiful she is. The hair shows modesty and submission, which is her true position and her glory—the position that God has given to her. The order of creation shows that the woman is not to present herself with the boldness of a man. Very short hair would be a sign of authority taken by woman over man. (See 1 Peter 3:3; 1 Timothy 2:9.)

Question:
Why don’t women wear a covering on their head all the time, because 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says: “Pray unceasingly; in everything give thanks…”?

Answer:
Our heavenly Father desires each of His children to “Pray unceasingly” and “in everything give thanks.” As long as we are here on this earth He is teaching us to depend on Him more and more which causes us to appreciate Him more and more. Four times He tells us: “The just shall live by faith” (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; and Hebrews 10:38). And the Psalms close with these words: “Let everything that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD” (Psalm 150:6).

There is no mention of women covering their heads in 1 Thessalonians, but in 1 Corinthians 11:3-16 we learn that God desires women to wear head coverings, and when He wants them to wear them is when “praying or prophesying”: “But I wish you to know that the Christ is the head of every man, but woman’s head is the man, and the Christ’s head God. Every man praying or prophesying, having anything on his head, puts his Head to shame. But every woman praying or prophesying with her head

uncovered puts her own head to shame; for it is one and the same as a shaved woman” (1 Corinthians 11:3-5, Darby translation).
In the last verse of the instruction regarding wearing a head covering (1 Corinthians 11:16), the public gathering of the Lord’s people is mentioned. “But if anyone think to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor the assemblies of God” (1 Corinthians 11:16). And following the section about head coverings we are given the instruction regarding the assembly meeting called “the Lord’s Supper” (verses 20 to 34). Therefore we know that the Lord definitely desires women to wear a covering on their heads when praying or prophesying publicly, and when she is present when prayer and prophesying are made publicly.
Each woman should seek the Lord’s mind as to when He desires her to cover her head. If you are convicted of the Lord from the Scriptures to wear a covering at meals, in the privacy of your own room, or all the time, you should do this. I say this because it is very important that we hold “faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck” (1 Timothy 1:19). If we do not do something that we believe the Scriptures tell us to do, our conscience will be defiled and our testimony “shipwreck,” bringing dishonor to our Lord and Saviour.
I believe it would be profitable for us to take a few minutes and look at 1 Corinthians 11, so we can see the importance of women wearing head coverings. We are told that the reason a man is NOT to cover his head (and a woman IS to cover her head) when praying or prophesying, is because of the order God has set up in creation that is called “headship.” God set this order up before the fall of man when he first sinned.
The order of this headship is: “I wish you to know that the Christ is the head of every man, but woman’s head is the man, and the Christ’s head God” (1 Corinthians 11:3). God is Christ’s head, Christ is man’s head, and man is woman’s head. If a man would cover his head when speaking to God in prayer, or speaking for God while prophesying, he would spoil the demonstration before others of God’s appointed place for him. “For man indeed ought not to have his head covered, being God’s image and glory” (1 Corinthians 11:7). Man was created in the “image” (representative) and “likeness” (glory) of God (Genesis 1:27), and God wants him to be His representative in the assembly as well as all the time.
The woman should cover her head when praying or prophesying and thus show the order of headship that God has set up for her. “For if a woman be not covered, let her hair also be cut off. But if it be shameful to a woman to have her hair cut off or to be shaved, let her be covered” (1 Corinthians 11:6). So since it is shameful for a woman to shave her hair off, she should cover her head when praying or prophesying.
You also say: “We are also to have a covering on when a man is praying on behalf of the whole, in Assembly meetings.”
Yes, I agree with you, based on the truth mentioned above. A woman should cover her head when she is part of an assembled gathering where prayer is made and the Word is prophesied or ministered. Those in the assemblies in Paul’s day were not contentious against women wearing head coverings. “But if anyone think to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor the assemblies of God” (1 Corinthians 11:16).