Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - WordAction - The Foundry Publishing House of Kansas City, Missouri, United States - The Global Church of the Nazarene for Wednesday, 27 September 2017 "A Suitable Companion" by Ian Robinson - Genesis 2:16-25

Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - WordAction - The Foundry Publishing House of Kansas City, Missouri, United States - The Global Church of the Nazarene for Wednesday, 27 September 2017 "A Suitable Companion" by Ian Robinson - Genesis 2:16-25
Genesis 2:16 Adonai, God, gave the person this order: “You may freely eat from every tree in the garden 17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You are not to eat from it, because on the day that you eat from it, it will become certain that you will die.”
18 Adonai, God, said, “It isn’t good that the person should be alone. I will make for him a companion suitable for helping him.” 19 So from the ground Adonai, God, formed every wild animal and every bird that flies in the air, and he brought them to the person to see what he would call them. Whatever the person would call each living creature, that was to be its name. (S: iii) 20 So the person gave names to all the livestock, to the birds in the air and to every wild animal. But for Adam there was not found a companion suitable for helping him.
21 Then God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the person; and while he was sleeping, he took one of his ribs and closed up the place from which he took it with flesh. 22 The rib which Adonai, God, had taken from the person, he made a woman-person; and he brought her to the man-person. 23 The man-person said, “At last! This is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh. She is to be called Woman [Genesis 2:23 Hebrew: ishah], because she was taken out of Man [Genesis 2:23 Hebrew: ish].” 24 This is why a man is to leave his father and mother and stick with his wife, and they are to be one flesh.
25 They were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed.
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Albert Schweitzer is reported to have said, “We are all so much together, but we are all dying of loneliness.” The first thing that God declared not good in creation was loneliness. Adam had named all the creatures that surrounded him and yet he was alone. God noticed and said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” So He created a helper for Adam, a suitable companion.
What a wonderful part of the creation story. We use these verses in our wedding ceremonies; for more than 40 years, my wife and I have been as one. We do everything (well, almost) together. Even now, when she is away from me, I am lost. I feel that a part of me is missing and I cannot function normally. She is my suitable companion.
God planned for His children to live in community. Without each other, we are like unfinished portraits or half-written symphonies–missing the beauty of the whole. Even when we are alone, God’s plan is not thwarted: "God sets the lonely in families" (Psalm 68:6). We are never truly alone because He is our most suitable companion.
Hymn for Today:

"Friendship with Jesus" by Joseph C. Ludgate
1. A friend of Jesus! Oh, what bliss
That one so weak as I
Should ever have a Friend like this
To lead me to the sky!
Refrain: Friendship with Jesus!
Fellowship divine!
Oh, what blessed, sweet communion!
Jesus is a Friend of mine. 
2. A Friend when other friendships cease,
A Friend when others fail,
A Friend who gives me joy and peace,
A Friend when foes assail!
Refrain: Friendship with Jesus!
Fellowship divine!
Oh, what blessed, sweet communion!
Jesus is a Friend of mine. 
3. A Friend when sickness lays me low,
A Friend when death draws near,
A Friend as through the vale I go,
A Friend to help and cheer!
Refrain: Friendship with Jesus!
Fellowship divine!
Oh, what blessed, sweet communion!
Jesus is a Friend of mine. 
4. A Friend when life’s short race is o’er
A Friend when earth is past,
A Friend to meet on Heaven’s shore,

A Friend when home at last!
Refrain: Friendship with Jesus!
Fellowship divine!
Oh, what blessed, sweet communion!
Jesus is a Friend of mine. 
Thought for Today:
Keep your lives free from the love of money; and be satisfied with what you have; for God himself has said, “I will never fail you or abandon you.”[Hebrews 13:5 Deuteronomy 31:6] (Hebrews 13:5}
Please pray:
For faculty and students as they prepare for Christian ministry in Guatemala.
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