Marriage

By Bryan Craig

Scriptures:  “To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.” 
1 Corinthians 7:10-11 NIV

“Some Pharisees came to Him to test Him. They asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?’  ‘Haven’t you read,’ He replied, ‘that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one."

Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” Matthew 19:3-6 NIV

“Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because He no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, ‘Why?’ It is because the Lord is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. 

Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are His. And why one?  Because He was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. ‘I hate divorce,’ says the Lord God of Israel.” Malachi 2:13-16a NIV

Thought:  God takes marriage very seriously. It was His idea, and He expects us to honor it and be faithful in it. He hates divorce and wants us to stick it out, even when times get hard. When we got married, we died to our individuality and became one with our spouse, one in flesh and one in spirit.

God wants Christians to get married and stay married and have children so there will be more Godly offspring. Our marriages serve a much higher purpose than just our personal fulfillment.

Application:  We must let Scripture meet us where we are, and God’s grace will help us see what we need to see. Some of us feel we have a good Biblical marriage.  Some of us are struggling. Some of us are considering divorce. Some of us have experienced divorce.

Let’s journal our hearts before the Lord, asking Him to uncover and lay bare our marriages, our wounds, our irreconcilable differences, not being fearful of what He might say to us.

Let us ask God the question, “What do you think of my marriage?” Let’s write down what we hear the Holy Spirit saying. If we are not married and desire to be, let us ask God for a marriage which makes Him proud. Let’s trust Him with His plans for our life.

Response:  What are we willing to do to save our marriage? How can we honor God with our marriage?

Let’s enter into these tough questions with our spouses with humility, love, and obedience to God.

Write a prayer of submission to the Lord.

Let’s seek counseling if needed. Let’s ask others close to us to pray for our marriage.  Let’s vow to do everything possible to persevere in our marriages and maintain our covenants.