Last week I talked about a close personal relationship as seen in the lives of God and the first human, Adam, in the garden of Eden. It is unknown how long this relationship lasted before God brought the creatures of the field and sea before the man was named. I believe that this journey of the man’s life lasted several years. However long it lasted, what is essential to understand is that God the Father was busy at work preparing the man for the next step in his journey. (Just as he is going for you).
You may or may not know this, but the primary reason God brought the creatures before the man was to show him that there was no one like him in all the world, nor suited for him. The plan of God included a mate, a helper, a companion for the man, and the man had to see that nothing in creation was suitable. There are so many lessons in this one element of God’s creation of humanity that it would take a book to write about them. For this blog, I am only focusing on one of them.
God is love, and love gives. It was important for God and the man to develop a close personal relationship before he implemented the next step of his plan, to create a companion. Our initial step into this unexpected journey is meant to be solidary—you and the godhead. It is intended to establish a close personal relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. I have said it before, but it bears repeating here. Do not get hung on acknowledging God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit. In the early days of my journey, it was simply a close personal relationship with God. It was not until sometime later that I discovered a distinguishing between them.
The length of time is not the key, only that it is a process of time. The New Testament book of Acts speaks of a time when the Apostle Paul returns to his hometown and is not heard from for several years following his conversion. I believe that this was Paul’s alone time of getting to know God.
God and the man walked and talked, laughed, and possibly even cried during this time. I point this out because it is a crucial step in this unexpected journey to a closer personal relationship with the godhead. It is not to be rushed (human nature is to do so) but to be enjoyed.
During the next step in the man’s journey, God places him in a deep sleep (again a solitary place) while he initiates the next step of his plan. Upon awakening, the man cries out, “Wo, man, what a looker” (Evans paraphrase) when his eyes fall upon his companion. At that moment, he knew they were meant to be together.
It is essential to God that his creation has companionship with someone other than himself. He realizes that being human means being in touch with other humans. He knows how important a close personal relationship between a man and woman is. He knows how important a close personal relationship with community is—he created it.
Religion is a manufactured attempt to get close to God. The god of this world, Lucifer (the devil), also knowing this closeness connection between God and humanity, promptly stepped in to manipulate this desire by convincing humanity that rules and regulations equaled being close to God. Over time, this created divisions, which made fractions, which created denominations of belief. This confusion keeps humanity off the path of a close personal relationship with God while giving the illusion of a relationship. While not everyone is under this illusion, the matrix (taken from the movie), as I call it, dupes many who sense the yearning deep within to get close to God into following religion instead of pursuing a close personal relationship.
Without a close personal relationship with the godhead, every other relationship in life is skewed because it is missing the key ingredient of God. If you allow it, it provides the answer to so many of humanity’s problems. It sounds so simple, I know. It reminds me of the words of a charismatic Catholic priest I met while in college. He said that the word of God is simply profound and profoundly simple.