WELCOME TO THE DATING GAME! Just kidding. Welcome to the dating portion on this journey to marriage. We started with being single, how to enjoy that and how to live out our purpose in our singleness. Now, we’re onto the dating portion. We’ll look at how to date as Believers, modern dating styles, things that have gone wrong in the dating pool, amongst others. So, let’s get started.
In the Beginning…
Yessss, sis, bruh, we’re going way back to the beginning. Like Adam and Eve beginning. I’ve been telling you all that we’re going to be heavily immersed in the story of Adam and Eve and we finally are. So, let’s take a look at Genesis 2:15 to begin.
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
Genesis 2:15
Ok… I was going to bring this up in the singleness portion, but I decided to save this for here because it really straddles the lanes of singleness and dating. I thought this scripture and the meaning behind it for our lives was best placed right at the end of singleness and at the beginning of dating because it’s a concept that we built on in the singleness portion.
So what did God do?
He took the man and put him in the garden to work it, and keep it.
Excellent!
Ok, and???
Right…
This is important because the first thing man did after being created was work. Which is not to say that all we need to do is work, but it’s pointing at our purpose. Man was not just created and left to stand around and do whatever he wanted. Man was created and put into the garden to work. He was not left to idly standby.
Now, before I get into the meat of this single verse, let’s look at a few verses above Gen 2:15.
And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:8-9
Why are we looking at this scripture?
Because it connects everything I’ll explain shortly.
I said just a paragraph or so up, that man was created and put in the garden to work it, correct? Absolutely. However, when we look at the scripture above, we see that man didn’t need to plant anything. God made the ground to spring up food, and trees, etc. Ok… keep this all in your head so I can pull it together with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.
Who Are You?
Man was not left to idly standby, he was put into the garden to work, based on Gen 2:15. Man was put into a garden to work it, but the garden was already self producing, evident in Gen 2:8-9. Let’s please look at one more, and I promise I’ll wrap it up and it’ll all make sense.
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
Gen 2:18
What does all this mean, beanie?
Good question!
In Gen 2:15, we find that man was given his purpose by God. He didn’t make up his own lifestyle, he followed the path God had set out for him. When we hopped back up to verses 8-9, we found the garden was already self producing because of God. Which means, when we are given a purpose by God, we are set in the environment to have everything we need to prosper. The environment that God puts us in will be self producing. You’ll be blessed as you walk in your calling with every need met, and everything that’s beautiful will be available to you.
In plain words: do what God asks you to do, and you’ll have your needs met and your wants too.
So then we looked at verse 18. God explained that it isn’t good for man to be alone, he needs a helper that’s fit for him. Now we’re getting into the dating portion.
Scroll up and look at the scripture Genesis 2:18. Do you see the bolded word ‘then’? It’s bolded because this action, the creation of woman did not happen, until after man had been in the garden working. So, there’s two things to this verse: the first is that you must work in the Kingdom, in your calling-the purpose in which God created you for-before you God brings you a help mate. The second thing: God will bring you a helper, not a slave, not a sex toy, not someone to demean, and not someone you picked out. God is bringing someone who is a perfect fit for you!
And I know, someone may bring up Noah, but he’s a special case. The world was corrupt, and God wanted to restart, so Noah needed to be married in this case to repopulate the earth. God is not restarting the world anymore, He’s ending it. So you, my friend, can stick to the information above regarding getting your assignment before a spouse.
Side note: You are special
In Genesis 2:5, the scripture details how there was no man to work the ground. I wanted to point this out because this scripture points to there being a specific assignment for each of us. There’s not one person whom God has called that doesn’t serve a purpose. Even those who God knows will drift from Him still serve a purpose. And our purpose is unique to each of us. A garden was created and Adam and Eve worked it. A flood was coming and Noah built the ark. A nation was without a God fearing man, so King David rose to the occasion. A wall was broken, and Nehemiah rebuilt it. The world had no savior, so Jesus saved us.
You see, each of us has a purpose, and it is important. Even if you’re not sure what your purpose is, or who you’re meant to be, keeping going to God until He reveals that to you.
Closing
Like I mentioned before, I wasn’t sure where to put this information, and it seemed like it was more fitting for the singleness portion, however, this is really prep for dating. In the singleness parts, I really only talked about being single. I didn’t go into the preparation for dating, so that’s why I put this bit of information as the first part of the dating section.
Knowing your purpose and who God has called you to be is vital before you can know someone else. How can you learn a foreign language if you can’t say your ABC’s in your own language? It’s the same thing here. You can’t love someone, or get to know someone without knowing who you are in Christ, first. Without fully committing to, and loving God. Man was working when God saw that he needed a helper. Man had not asked for one. So you don’t have to ask for a helper (or to be someone’s helper). God has it all under control, and when He sees that your work load is heavy, He will bring you to the right person (for women) or bring the right person to you (for men).
We used chapter two of Genesis a lot, and I’ll be honest, we’re not even close to exploring the rest of the chapter or even the same three verse used here. It’s vital that you read Genesis chapter 2 in it’s entirety so that you’ll ready for the next post. I guess that’s your homework then, until next time. Read Genesis chapter two at least twice before the next post!
