Weekend Kindness
Reaching Others Through Kindness

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Believe it or not, there was a time when a couple did not have to worry about their relationship.  A time when there were no quarrels.  A time when spouses loved each other as they ought.

But, unfortunately, it didn’t last very long.

In the beginning, God created man and then created woman when He saw that man was alone.  He created her to be a help meet for him.

And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 

And Adam said, This [is] now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.  Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.  And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

The last part goes toward the perfection I’m talking about.  Before sin.  Before the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Before the serpent there was the perfect relationship.

What did this perfect relationship look like?

A Perfect Relationship With God

This perfect relationship had at its core a perfect relationship with God.  God walked with them in the cool of the day.  God talked with them on a regular basis.  They looked forward to spending time with Him.

We know all this because we know how upset they were when they sinned—that they knew He was coming, that they wanted to hide their shame.  This is much like us when we know our parents are coming and we disappointed them.

The relationship they had with God made their relationship perfect.  They were right before Him, and that meant that they were right with each other.

If we are not right with God—if we do not keep short accounts and spend time with Him, it will be difficult to be able to keep unity and harmony in the home.

A Perfect Relationship With Each Other

There are few things that we can learn from the interaction between the first husband and wife.

A Love for Eve

We know that Adam loved Eve very much.  How do we know?  Because of how he tried to protect her.

But of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. – Genesis 3:3

However, that’s not what God said:

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. - Genesis 2:17

So, where did Eve hear about the restriction?  Though it’s possible that God told her about it during one of their talks, it’s also possible that Adam wanted to protect Eve.

A Help Meet

Adam had a job to do.  He was to take care of the garden and he named the animals (or at least the kinds of animals).

What was Eve’s job?  From what we can tell, she was to be Adam’s help meet.  His Administrative Assistant, as it were.  She was to help him do his job.  She was to provide companionship and complete him.

I like the phase that says that Eve was not taken from his head to be above him, or from his feet to be a slave to him, but from his side to be his equal.

The Perfect Peer

In the perfect relationship they complimented each other perfectly.  They helped each other, loved each other, sought each other’s best.

Adam had a job to do, and Eve helped him to accomplish it.  Adam needed a companion—he was not whole without one—and Eve provided that companionship.

This last part is interesting to me because God could have said “I will provide Adam with companionship, alone.”  But instead, God recognized that Adam was incomplete without Eve.  This husband was not complete by himself—he needed his wife.

The Fall

The problem is that life did not stay perfect.  Eve sinned, and her husband (who loved her) took the fruit and sinned also.  That act set in motion many changes—one of which was a change in their relationship.

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