SEEING DOUBLE

Okay, my workspace isn't that bad, but if you were to walk in my front door, you would see a messy computer armoire with a laptop snuggled inside it. However, I look at my cozy little space and perceive a place where God meets me each day. I see an electronic blessing that gives me hours of enjoyment that God used to clarify His calling in my life. Now, let me take you a little further into my home, just past and to the left of that messy armoire. There lies a tattered dog’s bed with a clumsy Rottweiler/pit bull mutt curled up on it. You might think, “Yikes! Kujo!” But wait! I see a precious, loving companion that God created just for me. He’s by my side all day – everyday – and he thinks I’m wonderful, even when I don’t wear makeup! One object or circumstance, dual meaning. Okay, let’s try something a little more generic – a remote control for instance. One object, dual perspective – depending on gender. The female representation of our species sees the little device as a tool, a piece of equipment to be used at a single point in time for a specific purpose. Its intended use is to change a channel, and then it should be re-placed on a flat surface until the next time its services are needed. Thus, the divergence in thought. The male species believes the remote should be held at all times and used frequently to change channels without any real purpose or pattern. There seems to be some covert quest to gain surfing speed, and when asked to relinquish control of the device – well, marital bliss is but a memory. To be fair, we should now turn our attention to the dual gender perspective on chocolate… On second thought, let’s move on to what God’s Word teaches about the double messages in God’s first Garden…

Gen. 2:18-20 – “The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’ Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found” (emphasis added).

• God had DUAL PURPOSE in bringing the animals to Adam for naming. God had already determined to make a suitable helper for Adam, but Adam needed to realize his need for a helper. Though God brought the animals to Adam in order for Adam to name them, God had a greater purpose to which Adam was oblivious. Adam knew ONLY the immediate purpose.

Gen. 2:21-23 – “So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called “woman,” for she was taken out of man’” (emphasis added).

• The creation of woman was a DUAL PROCESS (Yes, men. We’ve been complicated from the beginning of time). First God created her from man’s side, and then God gave her to Adam as a gift. God presented her to Adam. At that moment, Adam could have resisted, could have refused God’s gift. Instead Adam recognized God’s gift to him. God creates blessings. It’s our job to recognize them.

Gen. 2:24-25 – “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”

• God made marriage for DUAL PLEASURE. Marriage in the Garden was all about perfect unity and the absence of shame. Can you imagine? Even the healthiest marriages struggle at some points with divergent passions and past baggage. But this verse gives us the bull’s eye, the mark for which we strive. It’s God’s perfect design for marriage – oneness and shamelessness.

Lord, I ache at the loss of Your marvelous Creation. I long to experience such purity and oneness with my husband. Your purpose and design for mankind and this earth were so perfect and good. I can only dream of a world so perfectly balanced and peaceful. Yet this one thing sustains like an anchor on a raging sea. One day – one day – You will restore it all, and I will be with You to see that day. Let it be so, Lord. Let it be so.