Our Dependence Upon Each Other

We live in a culture that’s obsessed with independence, but it’s important to remember God created us to be dependent beings.

We are His sheep. He is our Shepherd (Isaiah 40:11). We must rely on him for protection, provision, and guidance. We can’t make it on our own—nor were we designed to.

But as important as it is to live aware of our dependence on God, it’s also worthwhile to acknowledge that God created us to depend upon each other.

This is especially true in the marriage relationship. Both men and women are designed to rely on the opposite sex.

God revealed His purpose for marriage at the very beginning. Marriage was an integral part of His overall plan for Creation. In fact, he wove the husband-and-wife relationship into the very fabric of our existence.

In the Creation story, God created Adam and put him in Eden, a place of beauty and abundance. God saw that His creation was perfect and complete in every way but one. “The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him’” (Gen. 2:18).

God put Adam to sleep, removed a rib from his body, and used the rib to form Eve.

Don’t miss that detail. Every other creature in the Garden was created from dust—including Adam. But Eve was created in a different way. What was so special about this final creation?

Eve was something new. She was the completion of a creation already in progress. Man was created whole but incomplete. God completed him with woman.

When God created Adam and Eve, he made them as two uniquely different creations but forever bound by a common identity, unlike anything else in creation. Though two separate individuals, God declared them “one flesh” (Gen. 2:24).

Both man and woman are necessary to propagate human life, and both are necessary to reflect the fullness of God’s endowment upon humanity. We depend on each other. We need each other.

God has given men special abilities and perspectives women don’t have. God has blessed women with traits and sensitivities that are lacking in men. When men and women respect each other and share these unique gifts with each other as God designed, we both are made complete.

The so-called “battle of the sexes” is a corruption of God’s design, based on generations of tension and frustration between men and women. Due to misunderstandings, abuse, and rejection, many men and women have learned to protect themselves against each other—even rejecting the opposite sex altogether.

This is a shame. God designed us for each other. We must understand and accept our God-given differences and use them to complement each other in the divine interdependence of marriage. A healthy marriage needs peaceful and trusting dependence between the sexes.

In short, it is to depend upon your spouse. God designed us that way.