Created for Relationship - Part 1

“Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him’." (Gen. 2:18)

That was the first time in the creation account that God said something was not good. I thank you, Pastor Mike Plunkett, for that profound insight!  It is very significant. I had never thought about that passage in that way before. It’s so easy for us to read simple words and think we understand, but God always wants to take us a little deeper. So I now turn to God in my childlike inquisitiveness and ask, “But God, weren’t you alone for all eternity before you created the heavens and the earth…one God, pure and simple, perfectly good, perfectly at peace, in need of nothing? So why was it good for you to be alone, but now that You’ve created a man you say it is not good for him to be alone, especially since you created him in your own image?”

Then I remember that passage about God creating us in His own image. It says, “Then God said, "Let Us make mankind in Our image, in Our likeness…and God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” The pronouns, “us” and “our,” jump out at me. Who is God speaking to? Could it be that God was not alone before He created the heavens and the earth? Then I remember that, of course, God has always existed in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit united by a bond of love…three persons, one eternal Supreme Being whose defining characteristic is unending love. And wasn’t it the Son who said, “Let us make mankind in our image …” the Son asking, the Father giving, because of the great love between the Father and the Son? 

When Adam was created he was already in relationship with God as a son to his father. He was never alone. So what did God mean when he said, “it is not good for the man to be alone?” The answer to that question becomes clear when we look at the rest of the passage about us being made in God’s image. It says that they (mankind) were to be “fruitful and increase in number” and rule over all of God’s creation. God wanted many sons and daughters to love, who would love Him and follow his lead to build His kingdom. In order for that to happen Adam definitely needed a helper! So God made him “a helper suitable for him,” and Adam named his wife “Eve.” The first relationship God created between those he had created in his own image was the husband-wife relationship. Once that relationship was consummated, many other kinds of relationship followed – relationships between parents and children, brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends and neighbors. Man was definitely created for relationship – both with God as His sons and daughters – and with each other. And the latter relationships were all supposed to bear some kind of resemblance to the love relationship that has existed for all eternity between God the Father and Christ the Son, with the Holy Spirit uniting three in One. Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. What happened? To be continued…