While many consider it elementary, I’ve been studying the story of creation. The last couple of weeks I haven’t been able to shake that there is something about that story that I am missing that will unlock the significance of God’s heart towards humanity.
This morning during my run, as I was meditating on some of the things I’ve been learning, something popped out at me. As God is creating, when He finishes an aspect of creation, He takes a moment to look at the creation and determines that the creation is in fact good, except one time. God created Adam (man), in His image and likeness; in His image He created him male and female. We read that in Chapter 1 of Genesis. In Chapter 2 we see a more descriptive story of the creation of man and it’s interesting to note that out of all the creation story in verse 18 of chapter 2 we see that God observed His creation and for the first time He doesn’t say it was good. He actually says “It is not good…” Now, take note that I didn’t write out the complete thought, but before I do, I want to pause here because God created the entire universe and creatures. He created light and the entire Earth and not once does the story mention God observing what He created and determining it wasn’t good, except this one time. I think it’s important to stop, take not, and learn from this.
The reason God said it wasn’t good is because man was alone and it wasn’t good for man to be alone. This is something we hear often. There are many sermons about it. We hear this verse at wedding and marriage conferences. We read it in book having to do with marriage relationships. I actually think it’s one of those verses and messages we take for granted because we’ve heard it so many times that the actual message has become part of the background noise.
Think through this with me…
God just said that Man wasn’t good because he was alone. If someone today were to come to us and say “I’m so alone”, our first response as Christians is “You’re not alone. God is with you.” While that answer is correct, let’s now take this verse to the next step. God said that the creation of Man wasn’t yet good because he was alone. God Himself said that, but wait. Man (Adam) wasn’t alone; God was with him. The very essence of God was in him. God’s breathe was in him…and God would walk and talk with him. Adam wasn’t along, God was with him and yet God said “It is not good for man to be alone. God clearly doesn’t have the same wise advice that we have. Imagine God were to turn to us today and say that. Would our response be “But He’s not alone God. He has you.”? Seems foolish to say something like that to God, the Creator of all things, but yet it’s how we think. So, in true Andrea nature, I read on to try and learn.
How does God solve this alone problem? He give Adam some anesthesia to knock him out, takes one of Adam’s sides, and creates another human being from within Adam. I know that we use this to talk about marriage and explain the significance of a marriage relationship, but I want to make this relevant to anyone and everyone. Let’s take a step back. Yes, God creates a wife for Adam and He does so using Adam’s own body, but the answer to God’s “it’s not good He be alone” is to create another human being to keep him company and live life with him.
I’m not going to pretend to know exactly what all this means. It did just come to me this morning, but the truth is that Adam had God, all of nature and creation, yet it was not sufficient for the creation of Man to be considered good. The story of creation almost makes it sound like God attempted to partner Adam up with different creatures, but it just didn’t work. To be able to call the creation of Man good and perfect, God’s solution was to create another human being so that he would no longer be alone.
I’ve been researching and studying a lot and there’s one thing that scientific research has concluded that pops out at me. Human beings are hardwired for connection and not just connection with God (or as they say a higher power), there is a physical and psychological need for humans to connect with other humans. Could it be that God designed it that way? Could it be that we should be more empathetic to people who feel alone? I don’t know what the answer is, but it’s possible that telling someone “You don’t need people, all you need is God” may not be the most accurate piece of advice. Yes. People will find their answer in Jesus. Yes, Jesus will fulfill every need and desire of our heart. Yes, there are needs in our lives that only Jesus can meet and we shouldn’t expect other people to meet. But, is saying that people don’t need people really accurate.
COMMUNITY. Community/family is something that God has placed on my family’s heart. We aren’t looking to build a ministry, as much as we are looking to build a community that is part of a larger community. Jesus said that we must love others as He loves us. Why would God express the importance of community and loving others so strongly if we didn’t need one another? That’s because we do need people. To live a wholehearted life, we need people, we need community, we need family. Yes, we need God. That’s a given and where any fountain of truth stems from, but there’s something to this.
Have you ever had moments that you cried out to God. You wholeheartedly believed He was with you and cried out to Him, but still felt the need for a person to hug you and just tell you it would be ok? I’d love to hear about it.
Andrea John 