In Genesis, the Lord says, "It is not good that man should be alone." And thus He creates woman: companionship is in God's perfect plan, and it can exist in perfect harmony to our relationship with God, that is, there is zero chance of our relationship with God suffering when we have relationships with others.
But this all changes with Original Sin. Elisabeth Elliot, having lost two husbands, the first martyred and the second to cancer, wrote the book The Path of Loneliness to share with others the suffering and joy of being in solitude with God. She writes:
"God designed the answer to Adam's aloneness: a woman...But something happened. Sin destroyed the perfect harmony of the universe....The human companionship, which in the divine plan was the answer to man's aloneness, no longer suffices....His aloneness has another dimension which is an experience of pain--a pain called loneliness."
Why is it often difficult to enter into silence and pray? Why do we often only surrender to God in the midst of suffering? These things remind us that we are alone and that, as it says in the First Step of many 12-Step programs, "our lives have become unmanageable" because of sin. We are forced to look at the fear of being alone and the reality of our imperfection and to choose what our aloneness means. Does it mean what Satan tells us it means, "without God," the essence of Hell itself, or does it mean "God is with me," that God is who He says He is, Emmanuel?
Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, teaches the following in order to explain the position that God is to have in our lives:
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 4: 26).
Does Jesus really mean that we are to "hate" those who are closest to us? No. But in comparison to our love and devotion to God, the love that we have for our families and friends should be pale. God is to be the center of our lives, and this was not such a mighty task before the Fall. Just as we inordinately love things of this world and often love people with possessive rather than humble hearts, we are called to "hate" for the sake of the Kingdom.
I think it's very possible to be surrounded with good Christian people, good Christian activities and still be missing the point--personal encounter with Jesus Christ. That would be the Martha syndrome. Someone recently said to me, "All He wants is for you to sit at His feet. He doesn't want you to fill your life with things to do. Just sit as His feet."
Many people will do good things and are doing good things who have no conscious, chosen belief in Jesus Christ. What makes Christians different then? Certainly not just the good things we do, though works are a part of our mission. The certainty of what awaits us--Heaven--is what sets us apart. The certainty of our belief in the One for whom we do good things is what is attractive to others. A personal relationship with Jesus Christ is the heart of Christianity.
In summary: everything was great before evil entered the world. When sin did enter the world, personally encountering God became a task and people actually became, to some degree, a hindrance rather than a help to encountering the Lord. Then, Jesus Christ came and corrected this effect of the Fall; the faculty of a personal relationship need no longer be a hindrance but in fact the only Way to union with God the Father. Jesus Christ, flesh and bone, fully God, is the only one with whom a relationship will always help us draw near to God the Father.
So, we may not see Him in a chair next to us tomorrow morning, sipping coffee, waiting to talk to us. But "faith is the assurance of things not seen." And God is a faithful God who has given us many promises that we might know Him and walk in His ways. Coming to Him each day strengthens our belief in the eternal reality that awaits us. We can experience a bit of the joyful anticipation of Heaven, even a bit of Heaven itself, when we come and wait at His feet each morning.
