Alone Together
“Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
God created humans for relationship with one another. He said that it wasn’t good for man to be alone. Thus He made Eve (Genesis 2:18). He created Adam and Eve so that He could fellowship with them. He didn’t need to create them, because God doesn’t need humans, but humans certainly need Him. He made the first man and woman so that they could be companions with one another. I believe that God made them equal in His eyes, but with different roles. If everyone was exactly the same, how boring would that be? I have often wondered what would have happened had they never disobeyed God. I wonder if it would still just be the two of them and the LORD walking in the garden in the cool of the day. However, the free will that God allowed humans to have got in the way, and, well, you know the rest of the story.
In the above passage from Ecclesiastes, Solomon listed several good reasons for folks to not try to go it alone. The first was to “have a good reward for their labor”. Most of the time, two people can get a job done faster and more efficiently and then be able to move on to something else, another task, or maybe some time to relax. I can think of one exception to that: when preparing to paint a room, one’s four year old says, “I want to help paint.” The second benefit of having a companion nearby is in the event that one falls down, he or she will have help to get up. This reminds me of that television commercial when the older lady falls down in her house and says, “Help, I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up.” Unfortunately before there were devices like “Life Alert”, an older person could lie in the floor for a long time before anyone found him or her. Falling is a real danger to older folks.
Thirdly, Solomon wrote that if two lie together, they can stay warm, but if they sleep alone, it is much harder to get warm, even under lots of covers, I might add. Of course, Solomon nor I am condoning men and women sleeping together if they are not married to each other. Actually, let me rephrase that. I am not suggesting that it is OK for a man and a woman to sleep together if they are not married. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines, so he may have been the wisest man that ever lived, but not so much when it came to being a “one woman man”. However, the principle is the same: two will be warmer than one alone. The fourth reason to have a companion is for safety. We are always told to travel in groups when in areas in which we are not familiar or are not safe. How many times have we heard news reports about some young woman out alone who is kidnapped, and left for dead in a deserted area? Common sense tells us that going out at night alone is not a good idea, not in today’s world. One is less likely to be robbed or mugged if he or she is with another person. Remember the old adage: There’s safety in numbers.
Solomon wraps up his advice on companionship by writing that a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Some interpret this to mean that three folks together is even safer than only two, which is usually true. But the meaning goes deeper than that. The three fold cord is an analogy for two people who have the Lord Jesus Christ as the head of their relationship. A married couple who put Christ first in their relationship has the best chance at remaining together for life. He is the “Glue” that holds a relationship together.
In this time of the COVID-19 pandemic we are “social distancing” from others in order to stop the spread of the virus. Just at the time that we really need each other, we are having to separate in order to stay healthy. In the grocery store, most everyone is wearing a mask and gloves, retreating from each other like we used to do in elementary school when we played dodge ball trying to avoid getting hit with the ball. It is a strange time we are living in. We do have one advantage, though, that we didn’t have just a few years ago. High tech has made it possible for us to be “alone together” on line, and that has been a wonderful blessing. We can see our loved ones, attend worship services, and some of us can work at our jobs. Hopefully, this pandemic will end sooner rather than later, and we can fellowship with each other once again. We just need to pray that God will ease our fear and bring us safely through these days of uncertainty.