The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. Genesis 2:18
Levato (or lebaddo) is Hebrew for alone or loneliness. Broken down, it literally means toward itself. It is a situation of inward looking and thinking because there is nothing to draw it outward. Adam was alone. This is the first of man’s problems described in our Bible.
Of note to me is that it is before the fall. There is no sin involved in this. Adam had communion with God, walking with Him in the garden, but there wasn’t another like himself and God said that wasn’t good. God didn’t create us out of our brokenness to need one another, He created us in His image to flourish in fellowship with one another.
So God made another.
Male and female, siblings, friends, neighbors and strangers – we are all made for relationship. Of course, we now live in a fallen world and that fellowship is strained at best and broken at worst. Trauma, sin and selfishness may incline us to isolate. It feels easier. But God says no. It isn’t good. He made us to be together.
Yes, there are times for solitude – stepping away to grow our relationship with God. But He always will call us back to community because it is not good that we are levato.
Let’s embrace one another because we are not made to be alone. You are God’s gift to me so I am not alone. I pray I am His gift to you as well. In His graciousness, He made us for one another now and we can anticipate walking together with Him again in a garden one day. No longer alone.
So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Genesis 1:27
