18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him.”
How many of us know the names of the US teams who won gold medals at the 2016 Olympics? I googled “US Olympic teams 2016” and found a Wikipedia entry listing all the teams and their medals. Only one year has passed since I watched those Olympic games. For two weeks I structured my life around getting work done in front of the TV for four or more hours each night. However, I can name only a few individual winners, luminaries like Simone Biles and Michael Phelps and more checkered athletes like Ryan Lochte. I never knew the names of the women in the US Eight, who rowed their way to a gold medal. Though I watched many of the running relays, I could not name for you the four men or four women who won gold. I do have a terrible memory, but I don’t think that is the complete explanation.
The Boys in the Boat (by Daniel James Brown, Penguin Books, 2013) is one of my favorite recent reads. It is a moving account of teamwork. Nine young men came as individuals to University of Washington and were united over the course of their years as students into an unusually effective coordinated team. The team not only won gold, but impacted the nine individual men in positive, lasting ways. But even so, I cannot remember the name of any of the boys!
In my heart of hearts, I have dreamed of various solo achievements. I wish I could play a musical instrument. I wish I could run or dance or play tennis. Generally, the things I can do competently, I ordinarily do alone. I like to teach, planning my own material. I enjoy the occasions when I get the highest grade on an exam. Pride is one reason I want to do things alone. When I do something as an individual, I get the credit for my success. Another reason I like doing things alone is that I sometimes feel weak if I need helpers to accomplish what I feel called to do.
But even before the world was marred by sin, Adam’s aloneness was not good. In Genesis 2:18, God says, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” From my 40 plus years of reading the Bible, I have concluded that God loves teamwork, of all sorts. It was part of his original plan. I don’t mean it is never right to do something by yourself, but I believe that God wants us to embrace teamwork more than we do. We are not defective if we want to be part of a team. Much can be accomplished by collaboration. God also works deeply in each individual heart largely by our experience working alongside other people. It glorifies the Father, Son and Spirit when we love one another and work together for good.
The first human team God created consisted of a man and a woman. That team was marriage. More generally, that team brings together men and women. Carolyn Custis James wrote a book entitled Half the Church. One of her points in this book is to talk about the “blessed alliance” of men and women to do God’s work. People often divide work into men’s work and women’s work. Division of labor is not evil, and it can be very useful to divide work. It can increase our efficiency. But there is also benefit to working together. I agree with James that there is blessing in the teamwork of men and women.
This God-created concept of working in teams can have applications beyond marriage to a variety of endeavors. I have wanted to write a book for many years. Now, Ruth and I are writing together. We submit our drafts to one another for editing. We not only appreciate each other’s writing, we also catch things that we think are unclear, will miscommunicate to our readers, or generally need improvement. We are “iron sharpening iron” in each other’s lives. “Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17) The theme of productive teamwork repeats throughout the Bible.
To sum up, in the beginning of God’s creation of humanity, He builds in teamwork and He underscores that it is not good for man to be alone. Throughout the Bible and human experience, teamwork resurfaces as an essential element for productivity. There is an African proverb, echoing God’s truth. “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”