Comparable

We don't see eye to eye on a lot of things.
But there are 15 inches between our heights.  That was inevitable.
If I'd married someone who did see eye to eye with me, we'd have some very short children.
But I didn't marry to have perfectly proportioned children.

He commented to me during our last pregnancy, "Remember when we used to just argue about what movie to watch on the weekend and what junk food to buy?  Now we argue about what neurosurgeon is best for our son and whether to buy a second minivan.  Times change, huh?"

I smiled, but responded, "Nah, we still argue about money."

And the LORD God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him."
Genesis 2:18


Comparable.  Of equivalent quality.  Similar.  Proportional.  Like.

Yup.  Man needs a helper.  The first thing that God said was "not good" was that man be alone.  He made the guy, put him in the garden to take care of it, and gave him one rule - eat.  Eat from every tree except the one with the death penalty attached.  That's Genesis 2:17.  Genesis 2:18 says he needed help with that eating rule.  The other commands God gave to them both.  Genesis 1:26-30 are addressed to "them." They are supposed to be in charge of the animals and they are to be fruitful and multiply.  But the first rule - the command to eat and not die - Adam needed help with that.

A dear old friend who had been married nearly 50 years once told me a joke.
He said that Adam was talking with God one day about Eve.
"Lord, why did you make her so beautiful?"  Adam asked.
"So you would want to look at her." God replied.
"Well, why did you make her so soft?"
"So you would want to touch her."
"Ok, but why did you make her so stupid?" Adam asked, perplexed.
God replied patiently, "So she would love you."

I will be honest.  I find this helping thing difficult.  Often.  He will be talking about morals in politics to me and my mind is wandering into school lessons for the next week or my frustration with disciplining a certain two-year-old.  I sigh and grumble over the supper dishes when he walks in the door after a busy day at work.  He agrees with me that my days are full and busy; so are his.  He affirms that the mundane tasks of raising our little brood are extensive, tedious, and yet, of great importance.
But they are not my most important job.

Why did God tell Adam not to eat from that tree?  Eating that fruit barred him from the communion with God for which he was created.  God created Adam to know him, but eating that forbidden fruit separated the sinner from the One who knows no sin.  Adam chose the knowledge of evil even though he already knew the Good - personally.  Creator and created became incompatible.
God, in His grace, did make a remedy.  His Son paid the blood price for our sin, dying in our place.  He traded His perfect life for our imperfect one.  God can now look at us and see the purity of Jesus' life, and our communion is restored when we choose to trust Him for that.  We can know God; we can be with God.

Eve was supposed to help Adam eat right.  His whole reason for being depended on it.  They both were going to take care of their homes, get fruitful, get busy with daily life.  Some of that work was better suited for Adam, some for Eve.  He made man and woman to be different and think differently so that it could all get covered.  All the work would be important.  But what came first and foremost?  The chicken or the egg?  Well, I guess the chicken; Eve was going to need to be around before he attempted to cook any omelets.  Man needs to be continually aided in his primary purpose.  He was created to know God, eat, and multiply.  He needs help with that.

So when I fuss and gripe about the impossibility of my own day's work, I'm really not paying attention to that which matters most.  In the grand scheme of things, my kid's hangnail really pales in comparison to my husband's relationship with God.   In fact, my whole day, necessary and vital though much of it is, isn't the initial purpose of my being.  We don't see things the same way.  God made us that way on purpose.  We are supposed to challenge each other to grow and learn and eat and not die in disobedience to God.
Maybe the forbidden fruit wouldn't have been so tempting if Eve had introduced him to steak first...  Next time, when the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is on our path, I'll have to remember to grab his hand and walk on past it.  We'll probably argue about it.  And I'll sigh that the hill is so high and I have to drag the kids along with me.  But the tree of life is just over the next rise.  It will be worth the trip.