Not Good to Be Alone
From the garden to today, God’s design for covenant hasn’t changed, and neither has our need for it.
The First Covenant
Over the past year, I’ve found myself returning again and again to the topic of marriage…not just as a personal covenant, but as a spiritual and cultural cornerstone.
I’m thinking through some new offerings around this theme and, Lord willing, plan to release a more detailed work on it in 2026. Until then, I’ll be using this space to highlight and share some of those developing thoughts.
This one begins where everything else does…in the garden.
The First Covenant
Before there was sin, there was covenant.
Before there were nations, there was a family.
Before there was a fall, there was a wedding.
Marriage was not humanity’s idea, no, it was God’s.
When God formed Adam from the dust, He didn’t give him a government to lead or a ministry to start. He gave him work, worship, and a wife. Creation was incomplete until covenant entered the story.
“It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
— Genesis 2:18
Everything else in creation had been called good…the light, the land, the seas, the stars.
But when God saw Adam standing alone, He said, “not good.”
The first “not good” in all of Scripture wasn’t about sin; it was about solitude.
The Foundation of Flourishing
When God brought Eve to Adam, He wasn’t just introducing companionship. He was revealing a mystery. Paul later wrote, “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the Church.” (Ephesians 5:32)
Marriage isn’t a social arrangement; it’s a sacred picture. It shows the world what faithfulness looks like and displays, in miniature, the covenant love of God Himself.
Marriage isn’t a side story in Scripture. Instead, it’s the stage on which God’s story unfolds.
From the very beginning, God blessed the first couple and said,
“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.” — Genesis 1:28
The Bible begins with a wedding in Genesis and ends with one in Revelation. The marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7). From start to finish, covenant is the through-line of creation and redemption.
Covenant Before Command
Notice the order: God formed Adam, gave him life and work, but didn’t call the work “complete” until relationship entered the picture. Purpose existed, but it wasn’t whole.
In other words…relationship before responsibility, covenant before command.
We often think purpose must precede partnership, or that we must “find ourselves” before uniting our lives with someone else. But in God’s design, the opposite is true. Adam didn’t discover identity through isolation but through covenant.
The lie of delay says, “Wait until you’re ready.” But covenant is what makes us ready. It’s the forge where maturity is shaped, not the trophy for having already attained it.
The Enemy’s First Target
The Enemy didn’t show up in Genesis 1 when God created the stars.
He didn’t appear in Genesis 2 when God instituted marriage.
He waited until Genesis 3…when covenant existed.
That’s no coincidence.
Satan’s first strategy wasn’t to destroy creation; it was to divide covenant.
His first temptation wasn’t aimed at power or pleasure, but at partnership.
He knew that if he could separate Adam and Eve from God, and from each other, everything else would crumble. He hasn’t changed his tactics.
Today, he rarely destroys marriage outright; he undermines it through distraction, delay, distortion, and doubt. He convinces couples to postpone commitment, redefine family, or view children as a burden instead of a blessing.
The war against marriage began in Eden, and it’s still being fought in every generation.
Covenant as Counterculture
To marry, and to stay married, is to rebel against the modern world.
It’s to live prophetically in a culture that celebrates impermanence.
Every covenant vows what culture avoids: “till death do us part.” Every faithful marriage preaches the gospel without a microphone. It declares to the world, Love can last. Grace can hold. God still keeps His promises.
When you see a couple who has endured decades together, who have forgiven, rebuilt, and chosen each other again and again, you’re looking at something rare and sacred in an age that worships self. The world doesn’t know what to do with that kind of faithfulness. But heaven celebrates it.
Fruitfulness Is More Than Children
When God said, “Be fruitful and multiply,” He wasn’t only speaking of reproduction.
He was speaking of reflection, filling the earth with image-bearers who display His glory.
Fruitfulness is both biological and spiritual. Marriage creates the space for both…raising children who know God and cultivating households that embody His truth.
A culture that delays marriage inevitably delays fruitfulness, and not just in birthrates. It delays discipleship, mentorship, and the transfer of faith.
A barren culture isn’t simply one without children. It’s one without legacy.
The Covenant Remains
Despite all the confusion of our age, God’s design hasn’t changed.
One man.
One woman.
One lifetime.
One God who joins them.
Marriage is still His first covenant and His most enduring symbol of grace…the first institution, the first community, and the first picture of the gospel.
When we honor it, we align ourselves with creation itself. When we ignore it, we unravel. But here’s the good news: what God designed in the beginning still works today. It doesn’t need to be reinvented, it needs to be rediscovered.
That’s the invitation, not to modernize the covenant, but to return to it.
Just finished reading a book, "The Garden Within", so your title intrigued me and did not disappoint. With almost 47 years in, I am totally on board with all you stated. It's always worth the effort.