God’s grace allowed the man choice. God did this because He did not create the man to be a machine, puppet or robot. God created the man so he could exercise his choice to become His child. This was a very incredible act of grace on God’s part because in His infinite wisdom He knew that the man would be led into making a poor choice, but He still allowed it. This resolve on God’s part took unimaginable restraint, but He did this because everything He does is an act of His grace.
God wanted the man to experience His goodness and when He observed the one thing that wasn’t “good” His loving kindness for man caused Him to act upon his need. “The Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every kind of the heavens and brought them to man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to the livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.” Genesis 2:18-22
What a powerful display of God’s grace. Not only did God make the man a helpmeet He also identified the man as “Adam” this name means “son of the red earth.” God identified the man in this way so he would know that he was a product of the earth produced by God and it was by His grace that his companion was made. “Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
Genesis 2:23
All this occurred because God made it so! The man did not make the woman nor did the woman make the man. They were both depended on God’s grace to exist.
Another important point is that the woman did not come from the man’s head to rule over him nor did she come from his feet to be trampled by the man, but she came from his side so they could be companions, friends, lovers and partners who would walk hand in hand and side by side through life together. What a wonderful act of God’s grace!
It is by God’s grace that the covenant of marriage was established. “Therefore a man shall leave his fathers and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” Genesis 2:24-25
About the author:
Don and his wife Brenda have been married 48 years. They have two married sons Jason/Crista and Nicholas/Heather and four grandsons Luke, Ryker, Blake and Drew. Don is a graduate of the Gateway School of Preaching, Fairview Heights, IL, the Bristol Roads School of Biblical Studies, Flint, MI and he has a bachelor’s degree in religious education from Michigan Christian College. He has been preaching since 1979. He has preached at Pacific, MO; Howell, MI; Arnold, MO; Festus, MO; Dexter, MO; and De Soto, MO where he has served since 2007. He also serves the congregation as one of the elders. Don has done campaigns and meetings in several states and mission work in Cuba, India, and Jamaica. Don refers to himself as a “Minister” because he loves ministering to others and helping them learn about Jesus and growing in their relationship with Him.
De Soto church of Christ 