What a Way to Begin!

Scripture: 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.” (Genesis 2:23 NKJV)
Observation: God performs the first surgical procedure by removing one of Adam’s ribs and creating out of it a lifetime companion, a helpmeet, one equal to him.  When God brought Eve to Adam, his reactions was one of great joy (Genesis 2:23), and thus begins the history of humanity, with the institution of marriage and the establishing of the family as God’s center for growth and propagation.
Application: This is the first day of the new decade – January 1, 2011.  Someone pointed out that in the United States the date is written 1-1-11.  Last year hundreds, maybe even thousands, of couples saved the day 10-10-10 to get married and there’s no doubt that many more will plan for their wedding to take place of 11-11-11 (November 11, 2011).  Such dates provide some sort of a “lucky charm” which will bring those couples love, life, and lasting happiness. I try to imagine what it must have been like for Adam. . . although Genesis 2 leaves little to the imagination.  By the sixth day, God had created light, had separated the water from dry land, created all vegetation, had made the sun, moon, and stars and place them in their celestial paths, had filled the oceans with fish, the air with all types of birds, and the land with all kinds of animals, and now He created His masterpiece – man.  When Adam was created he already had his speech patterns fully in place – thus he was able to name all the animals as God brought them to Him [I find it interesting that parents tell their children the name of every animal, and plant, and object. . . God, instead, brought the animals to Adam for him to name them. . . almost like a playful, proud Father, with a wide, please smile on His face, inviting, allowing, letting His newborn son had the pleasure of giving names to what He had created for him].     But maybe there as a deeper purpose in this “game.”  As Adam joyfully named all the animals he began to see a recurring pattern – every animal had a mate, a companion, one equal to the other.  Adam, intelligent as he was, fresh out of the hand of His creator, began to sense something missing in his life – he didn’t have that companion each of the animals did, but even before he voiced his wish, his desire, his prayer for someone to be his companion, God was already planing to meet his need for emotional and physical fulfilment. I think Adam’s reaction, as quoted in Genesis 2:23, is a typical male reaction to seeing his “woman.”  He probably shouted it, pumped his fists in the air, and jumped a couple of feet in the air – maybe he learned from the mating rituals of some of the animals he had been naming.  And as Adam and Eve rejoiced in their acquaintance and subsequent union, God, their Father and Creator, rejoiced even more with this great beginning. As we begin the new year and the new decade, I invite you to rejoice with the spouse God has given you with as much enthusiasm as your culture allows, but with as much pride and gratefulness as Adam expressed, knowing they were God’s gift to each other.
Prayer: Father God, thank you for my spouse, for the gift he/she is to me, for bringing him/her into my life, for giving him/her to me, as an equal, to complete Your creation in me.

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