Selwyn Hughes: "Christ Empowered Living" On people as being relational beings.

-Despite the fact that Adam was surrounded by the most wonderful creation- birds singing, deer gamboling, rivers rushing- he was alone. Not lonely, but alone. If in those days prior to the creation of Eve, God had asked Adam, "Are you lonely?" I don't beleive he would have understood the question.

Enjoying God and the pleasure of a bountiful creation, he must have felt fully satisfied with his lot. He seemed perfectly secure in his singleness. We never read of him making any complaint that he was lonely. But in order for God's image to be fully revealed in him as a relational being, he needed someone like himself to whom he could relate- someone with skin on! God has designed us to relate no only on a level with him but also on a leve with other human beings. Thus having only God, Adam was alone.

Note how God went about remedying this situation. First, he brought all the animals before Adam in order that he might name them. The book of Genesis says:

"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 it's name" (Gen 2:19)


What was God's purpose in bringing all the animals before Adam in order that he might name them? I can think of at least two reasons. One was to bring the animals under Adam's rule. (when we name something, we bring it under our authority.) The second was to develop in his heart the idea that he needed to relate not only to the animals but also to someone comparable to himself.-



This is a book I am currently reading and am loving! Every chapter has something new and challenging in it! This was one of the first things that really jumped out at me- especilly what it says about naming things. I have been thinking about that in a variety of areas over the last few months. One example in, in the course I have been helping on recently, GriefShare, which helps people to walk through their grief and come more to terms with it, it was lovely to see people coming in the door at the begining of the course, who seemed fine, yet their grief was all-encompassing. However when they started to talk it through and NAME the different aspects, you could see them bringing it under authority, and finding ways to cope and go on with life, even though it doesn't go away, or minimise the loss of the person in their lives- amazing!