The Way That Leads to Faith_Exposition of Genesis (Part 6)

When There Is Someone to Pour Out Your Love On

Today I would like to talk about the story in Genesis chapter 2 where, after God created Adam, He made Eve as a helper suitable for him.

In Genesis 2:18 it says, “And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” After God created Adam, He said that it was not good for man to be alone.

Why is it not good for a person to be alone? Is it because he feels lonely? We might think that way. But the Bible does not say that. As I mentioned before, when God created man, He made him in the image of God. Because God is love, before man fell into sin, the person who was created in the image of God also had love—the image of God—inside him.

Love needs an object on which it can be poured out. By its very nature, love is satisfied when it is poured out on another. Not being able to pour out love is like water in a well that is never drawn out and just sits there until it becomes stale. Just as a baby must suck its mother’s milk so that fresh milk continues to come out, and if the baby does not nurse, the milk will spoil, in the same way, God, who is love, needs an object on which to pour out His love. And when He can freely pour out that love, He is pleased and at peace.

Since Adam was created in the image of God, when love welled up in his heart, he also needed someone on whom he could pour out that love. That it is not good for man to be alone means that it is not good for a human being—who was created in the image of God who is love—to have no object on which to pour out the love that rises up from within.

There are countless people living in this world, and each person lives his or her own life. Some people are poor, some are rich; some have studied much, others have not had the chance to study. There are many differences from person to person, but there is one thing they all have in common: every human being wants to be loved. And everyone seeks someone to love.

The unhappy person is not the one who has little or has not studied, but the one who has no object on which to pour out the love that wells up from the heart. Just as no matter how much water a well has, if that water is never drawn, it will eventually become stagnant and foul, so the person who has no one to pour love out on is the most unhappy person.

The one who has someone to love is not discouraged. The soul that has an object to love does not fall sick. The person who is loving someone is never truly unhappy.

Satan has planted distrust in the hearts of many people today. People found someone they thought they could trust and love, poured out their hearts and love on that person, only to be disappointed and hurt. Because of this, people no longer try to love easily. They do not easily pour out their hearts or their love, and in this way they have lost someone to love. We now live in an unhappy age in which children cannot trust their parents, parents cannot trust their children, friends cannot trust friends, and even brothers and sisters cannot trust one another.

No one readily decides to pour out their heart and love. Because the more they loved, the more pain they experienced, they shrink back from loving and prefer to be loved instead. As this continues, love in people’s hearts dries up more and more, and there is no longer anyone they truly love. And because there is no love, they become disappointed and discouraged even by small difficulties.

If any of you feels weak-hearted, I encourage you to pray to God. One of the conditions that makes your heart strong is having many trustworthy people around you. When you live among people you love, your heart becomes strong and firm.

When a person loves someone passionately, that love stirs up hope, joy, and new strength in the heart. That is why the person who is loving someone never becomes discouraged. On the other hand, the person who has no one to trust and love, and therefore cannot pour out love, is an unhappy person even if he possesses everything else.

Many people today have been disappointed and disheartened by other human beings. So now, instead of loving people, they pour out their hearts on cats, dogs, and such, trying to live without burdens.

God said that it is not good for man to be alone. That is because man was created in the image of God, and there is love welling up within him. The more you pour out love, the more abundantly it springs up. When you sacrifice yourself and serve others through that love, your heart becomes stronger and stronger. That is why if you have lost someone to love, if you have no one to love, or if you have been disappointed by people you loved, I hope you will turn the object of your love toward God.

When you love God, you will never be disappointed. God has never disappointed anyone. If you open your heart toward God and love Him, you will gain new hope in your heart and be transformed into a person who also loves others.

It was not good for Adam to be alone, so God made a helper suitable for him. God made Eve and let her live together with Adam. The reason for this was not that Eve was weaker and more fragile than Adam, and therefore should simply cook and do laundry. Rather, God made a helper so that Adam might find true satisfaction and happiness by sacrificing himself and loving the weaker woman.

I remember the days when I was in the army. You might think the army would be very good because it is a place where only young and healthy people are gathered. But army life is unimaginably rigid and hard. In contrast, in a family there are young and healthy people, but there are also elderly people and children. Older people need the help of younger people, and children need the help of adults. Many elderly people simply cannot live unless they receive the help of the younger generation.

Because there are people in the home who lack strength, it might seem inconvenient, but in reality, living together with them is joyful and happy.

For example, suppose someone becomes ill and cannot live without the help of others. It is burdensome and difficult for those around him to help, but as they help, love wells up from their hearts. And so even while doing hard things, they feel happiness.

When God made woman, He did not make her equal in strength to man, but a little weaker than man. Not only physically, but in her heart as well, He made her weaker so that she cannot help but receive love from man. Man, by laboring, serving, and sacrificing himself for the weaker woman, gains strength and joy through pouring out his love.

If only healthy, strong people who need no help lived together, the more such people gathered, the harder and rougher they would become. When there is someone weak and lacking, it feels burdensome at first, but as the healthy person helps that one, he comes to feel joy and happiness and learns what true happiness is and what love is.

At first, helping others seems bothersome and difficult, but God has designed it so that through it we gain peace, comfort, and joy.

I do not know your exact circumstances, but God has said that it is not good for man to be alone. And He said, “I will make him a helper,” and created woman, who is weaker than man. Whether you are a man or a woman, there will be people around you who are weaker and who are lacking compared to you. I encourage you to serve them, labor for them, and sacrifice yourself for them.

At first it may feel bothersome and painful, but the joy you taste there and the strength that comes from it will make your mind healthy and your life happy. Because people do not know this secret, they think that everything around them must be perfect in order to be happy. But the more perfect everything becomes, the harder and rougher life will grow.

Where there are lacks, weaknesses, and people who make mistakes and have faults, there you will find harmony and warmth in life together.

Even between husband and wife, when they first get married, they are so careful not to make any mistakes that life becomes extremely stiff and rigid. But gradually the wife makes mistakes, and the husband makes mistakes as well. When they make mistakes and yet forgive each other, their hearts draw closer and become more fervent.

I firmly believe that if you can live imitating the love of God, who loves the weak, you will surely live a blessed and joyful life.