The God of Marriages

I have been very disturbed this past year at the amount of people I know personally who are struggling with their marriages, and I mean the ready to separate or have separated and divorced kind of problems, not just the normal not taking the trash out kind of problems. I sat the other day almost in tears with a letter in my hand from a lawyer concerning the marriage of very dear friends of mine, and I wondered how we (me included) in the church have gotten to a place where we have abandoned so many brothers and sisters to the point where they require assistance from the world to resolve their issues. Is our God lacking is some area or is His Word incomplete and unable to carry us through any difficulty? Do we serve the gods of the prophets of Baal who Elijah taunted that maybe their gods were far off or asleep? No! We serve a living God who has drawn near to us and loves us and will move on our behalf IF (that part is important!) IF we walk in His Word and yield to His commands. I have seen some who have stood firm in the trials and they are still together. I thank God for their courage and integrity, and I am thankful that God has been faithful to answer all the prayers for those marriages. God does and is willing to intervene, but we have to allow Him to do so. We have to make the choice to lay down our life for Christ and for each other.

One of my dear friends sent me an email that sums it up pretty good. We all struggle and we all have a tendancy to drift apart because of the pressures in our lives, but our God is the God of marriages and He will bring us through. This brother and his wife are living it out and trying to lay it on the line for Christ. Even in the midst of the storm I have seen them press in deeper and be more determined than ever to make their marriage work for the glory of God. We need more people like that who will allow their life and their marriage to be a testimony of how our God will save and deliver us from every hardship and every adversity.

I have included my friend’s comments here. If you have any comments, please post them. I know this is a topic that everyone has dealt with unfortunately.

"My wife and I have been struggling to go through a devotional together by Henry Blackaby. Tonight's reading was on disobedience and the heart conditions that lead to it. The book used the slow growing apart of spouses, and ultimately divorce as an example of how disobedience in small things over time can end up creating a gorge between individuals, spouses, families or churches and God. Through our discussion time tonight, God revealed to each of us some ways in which we are struggling as individuals and taking it out on each other, rather than comforting and encouraging one another. Our first response of attacking takes nothing more than flesh and blood; easy right; and we've got plenty to go around... The latter response requires the Holy Spirit of God to act through us even if our flesh doesn't feel anything like submitting. Submission to God in humility is the only way to experience the life-changing work of the Holy Spirit through us. God quietly revealed to us tonight that we must take up our cross and follow Him daily, dieing to self, so that He can live through us and impact each others, and others lives for the Kingdom."

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