God made Us for Relationship: Not for Self-Sufficiency (Genesis 2:18-23)

“The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’ Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky… But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man’”

(Genesis 2:18-23, NIV).

Throughout the Creation story, a phrase repeated over and over again: “God saw that it was good.” The day was good. The night was good. The seas were good. The dry land was good. The trees, the plants, the mountains, the rivers, the birds, the animals, Adam – God saw all of it and saw that it was good.

So it is a surprised for me when I read God declares that something is not good. “It is not good for the man to be alone,” God says. He was not pleased to see Adam’s loneliness so He created a companion – a helper – for the man out of his very bone and flesh.

“At last!” Adam said (Genesis 2:23, NLT). That little exclamation is telling. The world was freshly made. This was before the Fall, remember. Adam was living in the beautiful Garden. He had the full presence of God. And yet in the absence of another human being with whom to share it all, Adam couldn’t truly enjoy it all. And then, God created another human being like Adam. Thus, Adam exclaimed: “At last!” No more loneliness.

We were made for relationship, not for self-sufficiency.

You’re not alone. You shouldn’t be alone – God wants us to be in fellowship.

It is not good for any of us to be alone.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.