I’m making two posts on this because there are two central things happening here: creation and companionship. God said it wasn’t good for Adam to be alone (verse 18), so He wanted to make Eve out of him. Thank God their relationship was perfect that day, and their marriage started off with nothing going wrong.
(This passage I’m writing on is from page 2 of both of my NKJV and NASB Bibles, page 4 of the VOICE copy I have, and pages 3-4 of the Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy I bought years ago.)
I think we as early 21st century humans and Internet content viewers often forget the necessity of social connection. I know I don’t often remember to call someone (though I know most of us are often busy with life). But over time, I’ve found that the culture puts work over relationships. I don’t want us to do that. Yet I know work is a good thing; I just wish we could make much more in half the time we put into our jobs. I know I enjoy my job at Fry’s, but I’m not interested in becoming a workaholic. Indeed, not only do I want to be a good man to a woman I want to marry one day, but we also need friends.
Also, I find it hilarious that God just took a rib out of Adam to make Eve (verse 21), so that she could be his partner for everything. I want to be a team player for other people. The thing is, though, I’ve been single for ten years this month, and I’m not sure where I can meet anyone to create adventure with. But I have debts to pay off, so I don’t think I should concentrate on women right now. Fortunately, I had already paid one of them off before I started this blog, and two more are soon to be eliminated forever. The rest I think will take years, but I pray I don’t care about myself more than Jesus. It’s not right if we’re not trusting Him with our lives, for without Him and His care and provision, we go badly astray. Thank God I’ve been willing to get those debts paid off since day one of finding out about them. Let’s just pray they never come back once I’m done.
Verse 24 is quoted in Ephesians 5:31, but I believe that a man with his wife are supposed to be a team. Also, here’s a controversial opinion: I do not believe that the verses on submission and headship across the Bible (e.g., 1 Corinthians 11:2-16, Ephesians 5:22-33) are speaking of the Lord’s perspective; the Bible authors were speaking of worldly perceptions. I don’t know why they wrote that, but without this interpretation, bigotry is freely embraced and the people have their conscience strengthened so that they could abuse and exploit others, not to mention that they would even preach racism basing their messed-up opinions on the Scriptures as if they encouraged those divisive beliefs. Like I said, I want to be a team player for others. It shouldn’t matter to anyone what skin color or gender they are. I mean, my niece’s mom is from the Philippines, and so is her family. Funny enough, though (here’s an interesting fact), that land was formerly under U.S. ownership, but in 1946, they gained independence. I’m glad they are around. I pray for that nation to have revival (repentance and faith) in huge numbers. A majority of them are Catholic, but not a lot of people actually believe the Lord God. It’s actually pretty scary when you consider the fact that corruption is very high there (it’s high everywhere, I guess), but at least every generation can learn from their ancestors’ mistakes, no matter how insane.
The final verse in this chapter speaks of Adam and Eve (she was named thus in Genesis 3:20) being naked and unashamed. They probably didn’t see each other’s naked body parts until they were married (they didn’t need a room, since no other humans were around 😂🤣😄😅😆😜🤐), but whatever. What does it mean to lay our souls bare before the Lord Jesus? Why do many of us have a hard time being real? It can be scary, but we don’t need to keep secrets. There’s such a thing on keeping a low profile about something good but hard for many to accept, though. I never want to offend anyone, yet I know offences are inevitable sometimes (Luke 17:1a). But no one should make an effort to offend someone (Luke 17:1b). Fortunately, though, God won’t grade you on how well you do things. You’re no worse off if you don’t get a particular job, nor are you any better off if you eat only organic products and exercise like mad. But God does care if someone tries to use freedom to offend others, and also if someone tries to limit your freedom in the name of being considerate. That’s actually happened to me when I noticed that people can be honest yet offensive, and also, someone has tried to make me believe I was doing the same thing before. Offence wasn’t even on my mind, though. Sadly, truth in the latter scenario is hard to find almost every time. I don’t want to post any details here, though. Indeed, I’ve found before that offence is a weapon that can be so powerful it literally does in or enslaves even the strongest of people, and can actually prevent God’s hand from moving in people’s lives. For instance, do you know the story of the paralytic in Mark 2? Jesus came to show God’s glory one day, and four men carried a crippled man over the crowd and through a roof! Now that’s pretty amazing, don’t you think? Jesus was thrilled about the faith of those five people in Him, and the paralytic was healed that day. But some scribes called Jesus a blasphemer. I think, as a result, Jesus didn’t heal anyone else in that crowd that day, for God was offended at the scribes’ words. It would’ve been awesome if more miracles happened in that crowd that day. (An elder at my church helped me see that truth in one of his messages a few years ago.) At least, for the most part, miracles are an easy thing for Jesus to do, that is, until you see a crowd who is prolific about causing offence and loving to brutally rob others of their innocence. I can say from experience that if you see an entire community behaving like this, the only thing you can do is to leave and not look back. It’s not worth it to fall away like they did. Sure, you can pray for others there, but it wouldn’t be good for you even to speak to most of them, for in spite of a small minority of Christians in any community, should offence get the upper hand, it’s not good for anything. But I still believe that God will have the final word, for even when an ugly ending happens to something, He can replace those bad memories with something better.
See you in Genesis 3… boy, this one will be a doozy.
Ron And His Stories 