This is Not Plan B

Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Matthew 25:34 (HCSB)

Many people in the world have the misconception that Eve messed up the plan God had for us. There may even be some who think we would still be in the Garden of Eden if she had not taken a bite from that fruit.  However, Eve did not wreck God’s plans.  I will discuss why we know that is true in a bit, but I want us to think about this misconception first.  You may think this misunderstanding doesn’t really mean much, but there are some important implications to believing this lie.

One thing implied by this misconception is that humans have the power to hinder God’s plans.  We don’t.  God is far too powerful for that.  Thinking we can throw a monkey wrench into God’s plans is simply giving us too much credit.  Job had it right when he replied to God saying, “I know that You can do anything and no plan of Yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2)  Later, we will see why Eve did not mess up His plans.

Another thing implied by the misconception that Eve messed up God’s plans is that God did not see it coming.  That is not true.  God knew mankind would sin and would need to be saved from those sins.  The Bible tells us He had a plan to save us from our sins before He even created the world.  Paul tells us:

⁴For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love ⁵He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself.
Ephesians 1:4-5 (HCSB)

Before God even created the world, He knew we would need to be adopted back as His children through Jesus Christ.  God knew man was too weak to resist sin.  I am sure he knew Adam and Eve would sin since no person is strong enough to resist the attraction of sin.  Because He knew this, He planned for Jesus to die on the cross to pay the price of our sins before He even made us.  Wow, that is love!  God wanted us to be able to enjoy Him so much that the Father and the Son were willing to pay that price.

Some people think that since God knew Adam and Eve would fall to sin and since He placed the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil right there in front of them that God was setting them up for failure.  That is true in a sense but false in another.  It is true that God placing them in the Garden with the tree did guarantee them to fall victim to sin.  While this is true, God had already planned to pay the price for their mistake before He put them there.  It is kind of like having a teacher giving her students a VERY hard test on purpose.  The students fail the test horribly.  However, after she grades the tests and informs the students of their grades, she turns around and retakes the test herself and gives each student a 100% on the test.  While it is true that Adam and Eve failed the test, they still got to be 100% pure in the end because Jesus took the test too and passed it for them.

God’s plan for mankind was made before the creation of the world and before Adam and Eve’s sin.  That sin did not change His plan one bit.  The Heavenly Kingdom awaiting all Christians was planned before they sinned and even before this creation was made.

It Is Not Good For Man To Be Alone

Imagine what life was like for Adam prior to God creating Eve.  He lived in a sinless world.  Food came easily to him.   He had all kinds of animals with which to play and spend time.  He had no fear of these animals or they of him.  But best of all, he was in the presence of God!  Adam could talk to God whenever he wanted.  How awesome would that be?

The beauty of the uncontaminated earth must have been awe inspiring.  Adam surely praised God for the beauty that was around him.  The conversations between Adam and God were most likely casual.  I find it very hard to imagine Adam talking to God in a formal way all the time.  He may have also addressed him in a serious or formal manner from time to time.  A typical conversation could have gone something like this:

Adam: Wow God, great sunrise this morning!
God: Thanks, I put in a little iridescent purple for you.  Did you like it?
Adam: Yes!  That was pretty cool.

Adam obviously knew God was far superior to himself.  Yet that would not prevent them from having a friendship.  God and Adam surely walked together in the garden with Adam asking about various plants or animals and God explaining various aspects of His creation.  Adam could also have asked for gardening tips.  He was put there to work the garden after all.

Since Adam had work to do, did he seek to improve his ability to perform his work?  I would imagine he did, as the need to improve is a God given human characteristic.  He could have worked to improve his gardening skills.  Adam had many other things in which he could improve.  He could train the animals.  He could try to run faster or walk farther.  He could work to increase his mental abilities or knowledge.  He could even improve his relationship with God by getting to know more about Him and His creation.

Adam had great companionship and things to work on.  This sounds pretty wonderful.  What more could a man ask for?  He was the ultimate bachelor; just without a remote control.  However, something was not right with this situation.

The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. Genesis 2:18 (NIV)

Think about that.  Even though Adam was in a perfect relationship with God (no sin) and lived in a sin free world, it was not enough!  Something was missing; it was not good for him to be alone.  Of course he was not technically alone, since he had God and the animals.  But they were not like him.  He was alone in the sense that he lacked a companion who was very much like him.

God parades every type of animal in front of Adam to help drive home the point that none of them will fill the need of companionship.  After Adam realizes none of these are what he needs, God makes Eve to be a helper and companion for him.  Ephesians 1:4 tells us: For he chose us in him [Jesus] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.  God knew before He created anything that He would need to send Jesus to save us from our sins.  So, He also knew Adam would need Eve as a companion before He created him.  Why didn’t God create them both at the same time?  One reason was to help Adam appreciate the gift he had been given so he would cherish the relationship all the more.

With Eve in his life, Adam had many new areas in which he could improve.  For one, he never had to agree on anything with an equal before.  If he had a misunderstanding or disagreement with God, there was no question of who was right.  But with Eve, he now had to deal with someone who could just as easily be wrong about something as he could.  Or, they may simply have different desires at the same time.  He may have wanted to collect apples and she wanted to get watermelons.

There were of course many new things he had to deal with now.  One was how to communicate with another person.  He also now had to think about what it would take to please Eve.  God created Adam as the spiritual leader, so now he had leadership responsibilities.

Since he was a spiritual leader, he needed to model spiritual growth.  Which of items for improvement prior to having Eve were related to spiritual growth?  Most of those items such as gardening, physical improvement, animal control, and mental improvement do not directly cause spiritual growth.  It was only improving his relationship with God that was directly related to spiritual growth.

It seems that all the things listed as things to improve after Eve arrived were spiritually related.  Agreeing with someone requires compassion, understanding, and patience.  Improving your communication skills with another person also involves improving your understanding and compassion.  Being a better leader requires you to be more aware of the needs of those following.  There are of course things you can get involved in with another person that are not spiritual, but doing the right things in a relationship does involve a lot of spiritual growth.

What seems clear is that we have much more potential to grow spiritually when we are involved in the lives of others.  Not only are we forced to deal with things we would not encounter on our own, but we also benefit from their encouragement.

Taking time to be with God by yourself is beneficial.  It allows you to remove distractions and really focus on Him.  However, that cannot be the only way you seek to grow spiritually.  If you try that, you are stunting your spiritual growth.  It is not good for man to be alone.  You need relationships in your life which force you to deal with situations from which you can grow.  You can of course choose to avoid relationships because of the issues that arise from them.  But know that each time you do that, you are depriving yourself of a chance at spiritual growth.

Even if a relationship is causing you to struggle with something, you can be thankful for that growth opportunity.  It will not make you happy about the situation, but it can help you get through it easier.  So, thank God for the people He has placed in your life through which you can grow into more of what He envisions you can be.