The mess worth making
I bought the book Relationships: A Mess Worth Making by Tim Lane and Paul Tripp of CCEF months ago, maybe even last year, but have only picked it up to read in the last few days. So far, very good. I was particularly interested in what they have to say of Genesis 2:18, which takes a slightly different to slant to some of the prevailing thought (at both ends):
You were made for relationships
This fact takes us back to the beginning. It asks the basic questions, “Who are we, and how important are our relationships?” In Genesis 2:18, God says that it is not good for man to be “alone.” This statement has more to do with God’s design for humanity than Adam’s neediness. God created us to be relational beings because he is a social God. God lives in community within the Trinity as Father, Son, and Spirit, and he made humanity in his image. Genesis 2 is not speaking primarily to Adam’s experience of being lonely as much as it is revealing his nature as the person God created him to be. Because God created a communal being — someone designed for relationships — creation is incomplete without a suitable companion. While Genesis 2 does address how male and female complement each other, the implications are broader to include all human relationships. In addition, the word “helper”, used here for Eve, speaks throughout Scripture of the complementary nature of all human relationships. “Helper” is used primarily to describe a companion, not a fellow labourer.
The reason we know this is true is because the “helper” is often used to describe God’s relationship with his people. When used this way, it does not refer to God as our coworker or employee, but as our ultimate companion who brings things to the relationship that we could not bring ourselves (Psalms 27:9, 33:20-22). So God is not addressing Adam’s workload, but rather the fact that he is a social being who lacks a suitable companion. Just as human beings were created with a vertical need for God’s companionship, they are also created for the horizontal companionship of other people.
Genesis 2 points to the fact that relationships are a core component of who God has designed you to be ...