
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18
Men often feel that part of being masculine is being independent and self-reliant. (If this were not the case, all the jokes about men not asking for directions would not exist.) Men are typically prone to try to fix things. More often than not, they want to be the ones to save the day.
God certainly created man to accomplish much. Even before the fateful fall in the garden, man was asked to get things done--work existed then and will exist in eternity. He was good at it, but something was not right. God determined that man needed a helper. God designed woman in a way that would be of particular help to man. That meant that woman had different strengths and she completed the man. It’s a tremendous picture of the beauty of marriage.
While man is certainly to depend on God, Scripture shows that God’s plan is that man should be in community. Man’s accomplishments are not supposed to come from independence, but from interdependence. That is one reason that the game of football is so great. In order to be successful, you have to be interdependent. Every person, on and off the field, needs to fill their role well before the team can see real success.
In order for you to be the man God designed you to be, you have to be open to having a helper different from yourself. How is God calling you to interact with others around you? Take time to pray that He would show you His design of interdependence and how He wants you to act as a result. When you do, you might experience a new joy and new success as you live out your God designed manhood.