Understanding God: He Respects Wishes
God said, “It’s not good for the Man to be alone; I’ll make him a helper, a companion.” So God formed from the dirt of the ground all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the Man to see what he would name them. Whatever the Man called each living creature, that was its name. The Man named the cattle, named the birds of the air, named the wild animals; but he didn’t find a suitable companion. God put the Man into a deep sleep. As he slept he removed one of his ribs and replaced it with flesh. God then used the rib that he had taken from the Man to make Woman and presented her to the Man. The Man said, “Finally! Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh!” – Genesis 2:18-23 (The Message)
In continuation of our meditation on the nature of God, another attribute of His we shall meditate on today is his gentle nature. He respects human’s choices and wishes. Having created humans as a free moral agent, He usually does not force anything on anyone, except in extraordinary circumstances.
The first indication of this attribute of God we are availed in the Bible is the scenario of seeking a partner for Adam. Having publicly expressed His concern about Adam being alone as well as His plan to find him a suitable helper, God brought all manners of creature to Adam to see if he would find anyone suitable among them. We can only imagine how many hundreds of thousands or even millions these creatures were. Their number thus tells us the number of times God tried to matchmake Adam with a potential partner.
However, Adam refused them all in their numbers. Therefore, the number of creatures that God brought to him that Adam named differently represented the number of times he said ‘no’ to God. Meanwhile, God did not take offense at this or reprimand Adam for being too choosy. Afterall, He was God. On the contrary, He respected Adam’s wishes. And guess what, He tried again!
God tried again and again!
He kept bringing more and more creatures to Adam to see if he would find a worthy mate among them. But Adam did not see the need to do eye service for God by meeting Him halfway and accepting one of the creatures brought to him as partner. They must have been so close as to enjoy that kind of liberty.
Finally, after He had exhausted his picks and there was no other creature to present to Adam, God decided to try another method to solve the problem of finding a partner for the man. This latest method seemed to work because immediately Adam saw the creature that was formed from his rib he proclaimed her the one:
The Man said,
“Finally! Bone of my bone,
flesh of my flesh!
Name her Woman
for she was made from Man.” (Genesis 2:23)
The scenario leading to this proclamation throws an insight into the temperate nature of God. He did not impose on Adam or use His authority to subdue or manipulate him into capitulation. He did not castigate Adam for wasting His time either. Rather, He kept bringing more and more creatures to Adam and He did not stop trying until Adam finally found and labelled his own partner.
He is a considerate God.
Selah!
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