Placed inside the heart of every man, there exists a yearning for companionship.
Men are created to work
Most men, and I say most because I have observed very lazy men before, but most men WANT to work and are fulfilled when they/we do. It makes sense when we look at the origin account in Genesis and we see how much importance God placed on work from the very beginning.
Before the curse of sin, God created man, and specific man named Adam, to work the fields. Its honorable to work and it is MOST DEFINATELY a part of our makeup.
In other words, if men were left alone from the beginning, I believe we would all be work-a-holics. We love to work (most of us) and we are most happy when we have worked a full day and we go to bed tired from the work that we do.
A woman-sized hole in our heart
As God was giving instructions to Adam, he looked at the situation and God said
“It is not good that man should be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”
I believe from that moment in history, every man who has ever lived had a woman-sized hole in their heart that only a wife could fill.
I believe that we were created to work, and after that God gave us a strong desire for companionship that helped keep us grounded.
Not what you would expect
After God said “I will make a helper who is just right”, God did something you would not expect. You see, Adam was the first created person, and therefore had no preconceived notion of woman, wife, sister or daughter. He had never seen nor heard of – FEMALE.
When God promised a helper who is perfect for him, something strange happened next. According to Genesis 2:19-20, God brought to Adam all the animals and birds that had been created. They were brought one-by-one to Adam in order for him to give them names.
Imagine this: First ever created man, God gives him a promise of a companion after He sees that being alone is not healthy, not good, not complete.
In Adam’s anticipation and no previous knowledge or understanding of “woman”, he looks over, examines and names all the animals that walk and fly.
I am sure that Adam was looking for, to no avail, the perfect, suitable, helper that God had promised. Over and over again there was that hope that maybe this one or that one would fulfill his growing desire for help, company, fellowship, togetherness, and intimacy.
The yearning grew
As the hours went on, the yearning in Adam’s heart grew. Then, some of the saddest words in the Bible are uttered at the end of verse 20 in the second chapter of Genesis.
“But for Adam, there was no suitable helper found”
This is truly a sad image. God made a promise and at the same time placed into Adam’s heart and every man afterward the drive, desire, and unrelenting hope for female companionship.
Its that companionship, that causes us men to come home from work. It’s that unmet need for closeness in some men that cause them to either work all day and all night or to party with strangers in an effort to meet that need in an artificial way. Its that strong, insatiable desire that is truly God-given that can drive men to be excellent husbands and fathers. It is also that strong, insatiable desire that Satan uses to get men to follow counterfeit versions of this God-given companionship that causes destruction, waste and all manner of problems.
Besides Jesus Christ, the creation of the wife is the greatest thing God ever did for men
Men need and want fellowship with the opposite sex. When it is in the form of a wife, and there is great effort to make that marriage God-honoring, there is NOTHING else on earth more pleasing, more fulfilling and more encouraging than a happy marriage.
God intended for His work to be done THROUGH the family unit, and it is through marriage, a healthy marriage, that this takes place.
It is so true that men should not be alone. We do need Biblical friendships. We need to be able to get along with people we work with. But oh the joy of having a wife!
God knew what He was doing for sure. Men are at our best when we are working hard AND when we are working with the wife that God gives us!
If you are a man who is either alone or feel alone because your marriage is weak or crumbling, reach out. There are answers that do not need to be destructive.
