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God Hates Divorce
God doesn’t mince words in Malachi 2:13-16—he tells us plainly, “I hate divorce!” When we marry, do we really understand the commitment we are making to each other and to God? When we look lovingly into each other’s eyes, we promise to stay together through sickness and in health, until death parts us.
We promise to “love, honor, and cherish” all the days of our lives, but will these promises bear out during the tough times? What about when the difficult days turn into difficult months and even years? What happens when a disability affects every area of the marriage—time, finances, sexual relations? In a world where vows can be broken with the stroke of a pen, many choose the path of least resistance over God’s design for marriage. Some people feel that if it gets too hard, if our spouse doesn’t understand, or if we grow weary of our circumstances, then we can just walk away.
While some researchers claim that marriages with a disability have higher divorce rates than the national average, others dispute those statistics, especially among couples who profess to be Christians. When Christians make a marriage commitment according to God’s design, we should view it as a covenant between us and God. He is the third strand in the cord that will not easily be broken (Ecclesiastes 4:12).
So does God expect us to simply grit our teeth and endure? No, certainly not. We should seek godly counsel and agree to do the work required to restore our marriages. Our faith can help us remain faithful during the difficult times.
The writer of Hebrews assures us that God will stand beside us as we fight for our marriages and will never fail or abandon us (Hebrews 13:4-5).
Our marriages can be restored when we faithfully bring our hearts before the Lord in true repentance and confession. Instead of trying to create change through our own efforts, we should ask God to reveal areas of sin in our lives and pray that he will do the same for our spouses. Restoration may not happen overnight, but it can come if we give God room to work in his timing and in his way.
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About this Plan
It takes a lot of sacrifice and compromise for two people to become one in marriage. Add a disability into the mix and the struggles can seem overwhelming. Physical and emotional impairments often clamor for undivided attention, which can lead to self-centeredness and other barriers. But when a couple determines to keep Jesus Christ at the center of the relationship, a disability can actually become a benefit in a marriage.
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