Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 | “Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. (10) For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, or he has no one to help him up. (11) Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? (12) Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”
While reading the verse of the day from Our Daily Bread, I thought about a song by Gospel artist, Dottie Peoples called, “ Long as I got King Jesus, I don’t need nobody else.” I don’t think God would agree with that idea. Often in the church today, we say that it’s God that completes us. It’s God that makes us whole. These things are true in a sense… but that’s not the whole story.
In the garden of Eden after creating Adam, God notices that Adam is the only creation that does not have a companion creation, and God says this is NOT GOOD.
Obviously, God knew something about the man that He created in His own image and likeness that made Him judge Adam’s solo state as not good. We out here saying, “Nah, I’m Good!”… but God is saying it ain’t good.
God doesn’t give us details as to why he judged Adam’s single state as not good, but a few possibilities come to mind:
- Man is not God. God is described as the self existent one and He he doesn’t need anyone else. He did not create mankind that way.
- God exists as three distinct personalities- Father, Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, so in a sense our God has relationship within Himself. When man was created, God said “let US make man….” showing the relationship between them.
The verses in Ecclesiastes give more benefits of togetherness.
Friendships are great, but God did not create Even to be Adam’s friend. God was establishing a deeper relationship, a closer bond between a man and woman, and God called this marriage. Marriage is the only relationship that God created with the purpose of showing the relationship between God and The Church which is called the bride of Christ.
More Thoughts
The one thing that is not crystal clear from the creation story is whether ‘not good’ applies to women as well. There’s a lot of research that shows that singleness is much more detrimental to men than women.
One of the challenges fueling the great divide between the sexes today is that single women overall are doing really well, while single men are struggling with issues of identity and their role in society. It’s understandable because you can’t be a leader if you have no one to lead or no one willing to follow you.
Marriage is God’s idea so naturally the enemy is attacking it. There’s been an increase in young women saying no to dating, marriage, and children partly as a response to the heartbreaking experiences they see other women go through or experienced first hand from their own parents. If we’re going to correct this, we’ve got to understand that and not ignore those realities.
Be Blessed & Berean!
