Episode Details

Prayer

Almighty God, Lord of Glory, O Light of Heaven, please chase away the shadows of my heart and open my eyes to your truth. I am so quick to wander, so prone to settle for shallow thoughts—teach me to think your thoughts after you. Let your Word burn with clarity in my mind and settle with weight in my soul. Make me hungry for what is good, wise, and eternal; keep me from being dulled by lesser things. Give me illumination not only to understand, but to walk in your ways with joy. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Reading

Genesis 2:18-25.

“Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19. Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”

Meditation

God designed the Woman to provide companionship to the man. This is a universal and enduring pattern of creation. Verse 18 makes this abundantly clear:“It is not good for man to be alone.” Men need companionship, and specifically they need female companionship in marriage. Communities matter, and the Lord designed women to be builders of communities. We need mothers, sisters, cousins, friends, elders, aunties, uncles. If you are a woman of God, this is a big part of your purpose: to provide community. Women are community builders. The wives of the patriarchs in Genesis were said to be “building their houses.” That’s a big job, building houses and communities. That’s a significant aspect of God’s purpose for women. The world doesn’t honour this design. In fact, they despise it. But we should know better—this is huge! Without women, we wouldn’t have communities.

Be ye doers of the word….

There are a host of practical applications that flow out of these insights. First: don’t live in isolation. This applies to both men and women. Don’t be an island. Don’t be a distant person. It’s not good for you, and you’re also depriving others of your companionship. None of us were made to live in self-sufficiency. We need each other. That’s not easy in modern society, which is potently individualistic. We don’t know our neighbours, and the sharp edge of loneliness is dulled by the second-hand connection of technology. But technology, useful as it can be, is no substitute for actual relationships. Whether you’re married or single, it’s important to offer your gifts in service of others. To actively seek to build real relationships. It is not good for us to be alone.

Secondly, men need intimacy. This is the positive side of everything we’ve just been saying. Man needs relationship. He needs closeness. He needs company. Wives have a special role to play here. If you’re a wife reading these words, here is a “prophetic” word for you: God has called you to meet this need in your husband. He has given you that role. No one else can fulfill it. Your identity is image of God, but your job description is helpmeet. One preacher said, “there is no more effective way to destroy a man than to deprive him of compan