Daily Devotionals

Bride and Gloom Week 3: Monday

Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him." Genesis 2:18

At Sagebrush, we believe we were not meant to live life alone. When we live life alongside others, we get more done, are stronger, and have an even greater impact for Christ. That is why God created Eve. He knew that Adam needed a helper and someone to walk through life with. This was God's design for marriage, which is still His design today. We are all meant to help each other as we walk through life, both in our marriages and relationships with other Christ followers.

 Genesis 1 records the creation of the world in 6 days. Each day, God created something different, from the sky, the waters, the plants, the animals, and the first man. At the end of each day, God declared what He created "good." Genesis 2 elaborates on His creation. As He evaluated the pinnacle of His creation, the first man, there was one thing that was not good. It was not good, God said, that Adam was alone. As a result, God created Eve to be a helper (verse 18). As we heard during the weekend sermon, God Himself is referred to in Scripture as a helper. He fights alongside us, and we are to model His example for our spouses and other members of the body of Christ. We are meant to fight alongside each other and help each other. 

Unfortunately, sin wreaks havoc on what God meant to be a gift. We fight with the most important people in our lives instead of for them, especially our spouses. What if we changed the narrative? What if we thought of our role as a helper rather than focusing on being helped? What if we fought for each other instead of with each other?

Moving toward action

Take a few minutes to think about your role as a helper, both in your marriage if you are married and in the church. How is it going? Are you walking through life focusing on how others can help you or how you can help others? What room for improvement do you see? If you are married, ask your spouse, "What can I do to help you today?" Ask someone in your small group the same question, "What can I do to help you this week?" As you take these steps, ask God to give you the desire to help and serve the people around you.

Going Deeper

Genesis 2:1-25 (NLT)

"So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. 2 On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.

4 This is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth.

When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth. For the Lord God had not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the soil. 6 Instead, springs came up from the ground and watered all the land. 7 Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man's nostrils, and the man became a living person.

8 Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. 9 The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground-trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches. 11 The first branch, called the Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found. 12 The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there. 13 The second branch, called the Gihon, flowed around the entire land of Cush. 14 The third branch, called the Tigris, flowed east of the land of Asshur. The fourth branch is called the Euphrates.

15 The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. 16 But the Lord God warned him, "You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden- 17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die."

18 Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him." 19 So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. 20 He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.

21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man's ribs and closed up the opening. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.

23 "At last!" the man exclaimed.

"This one is bone from my bone,
and flesh from my flesh!
She will be called 'woman,'
because she was taken from 'man.'"

24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

25 Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame."