It is not good that man should be alone – what an interesting statement. It’s great to fellowship with God. However, God, in saying this, reveals important things.
First, He is far more powerful than man. Yes, it’s great that man could fellowship with Him. It was more wonderful then than it is now. Back then, God could come down and communicate personally with man. Now, it must be done through prayer. And, even when a person has trusted in Christ for salvation, if that person has sin in their heart, God can’t hear their prayer. (Ps. 66:18)
So, why wasn’t it enough for man to hang out with God? Because man needed someone on his level. Adam needed an equal. He needed a relationship with someone with whom he could share happiness over knowing the Lord. However, he also needed someone who could do it on the same intellectual level. God, as Creator, could never share the joy of being one of God’s creatures, of having God’s protection and provision.
Adam was always small and insignificant compared to God; even back then, the relationship was not like two buddies. God was still reaching down in love to fellowship with the man. It’s just that this was possible, with no mediator, before the Fall.
This lets us know, in our prayer life, just how important it is to reverence God. Yes, we can go boldly before the throne of Grace. He understands all our infirmities. And yet, He is separate from us on two levels. One is obvious – we are sinful creatures. He can’t sin. Even while living on Earth, Jesus Christ never once sinned. The second is that His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts higher than our thoughts. (Is. 55:8-9) He has an understand of the world, the past, present, and future, and everything that we just can’t grasp, no matter how hard we try. And, Adam and Eve, even in their perfect state before the Fall, couldn’t match that.
Along with this, we see that even angels would not have been enough. Yes, they are also God’s creatures, but they were created one at a time. Adam, on the other hand, was meant to start a race – the human race, the only true race there is. This was God’s plan to replenish the earth, through families filled with love.
A third thing He reveals in saying it isn’t good for man to be alone is that man is a social creature. Yes, there are some people, especially those with an autism spectrum condition, who have problems with human contact. Interestingly, they still harbor some desire for contact, as they often enjoy animals. However, the point is, any lack of interest in human contact is because of the Fall.
All the good things about human contact are indicated here, in God’s desire to provide this help meet. Unconditional love, stability, peace, and every other positive thing about humanity was brought out in this desire to provide man companionship. So, too, was a division of labor. Yes, man could domesticate animals, and soon would. However, a true help meet would be able to share in the same things man could do. They could work together, co-operating in the task at hand, the keeping of the Garden. This help meet was to be a perfect compliment to Adam. God had a rule for man, but He also provided for all of man’s needs.
