HOW DOES GOD SEE MARRIAGE?
Part 4: God is Watching

“The LORD, the God of Israel, be witness!”
(1 Samuel 1:12 ESV).

We keep looking more into the Malachi 2 passage about marriage. Verse 14 says: “The LORD hath been WITNESS between thee and the wife of thy youth . . . yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.”

We often move along in our marriages without ever realizing how much God is involved. Yes, He is involved even if we don’t notice Him. Do we realize that God is witnessing all our words and interactions with another? When we are aware of this, it certainly makes a difference to how we act and speak to one another, doesn’t it?

God was witnessing as we spoke our marriage vows, maybe similar to these words: “I take you to be my lawfully wedded husband, and forsaking all others, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, according to God’ s Holy Ordinance.”

We spoke our vows before God. We made a covenant. That’s why God uses the word “treacherous” because when we break covenant with our marriage vows, we also break covenant with God.

The Message paraphrase says: “GOD was there as a witness when you spoke your marriage vows to your young bride, and now you’ve broken those vows, broken the faith-bond with your vowed companion, your covenant wife. GOD, not you, made marriage.”

Proverbs 2:17 talks about the wife who “forsakes the guide of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God.” Her marriage vows are called the “covenant of her God.”

The word “covenant” is “berit” and means “a compact (made by passing between pieces of flesh as God did with Abram in Genesis 15:17-21), a contract accompanied by signs, sacrifices, and a solemn oath which sealed the relationship with promises of blessing for obedience and curses for disobedience.”

Do you notice the words, “FORSAKING ALL OTHERS”? These words are part of our marriage vows. When we marry, we no longer have a “personal” male friend. Of course, we’ll have loads of male friends as couples and families with whom we enjoy fellowship. But never again will we go out for lunch or a cup of coffee on our own with another man. The covenant of marriage makes us “glued” to our spouse. We are one. No longer two. If we don’t understand this concept, we don’t understand God’s concept of marriage.

And remember, God is WITNESSING.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Lord God, You were with us on our wedding day when we said our vows to one another. You witnessed as we made a covenant with one another and with You. Please help both of us to be covenant keepers. I ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

HOW DOES GOD SEE MARRIAGE?
Part 3: GUARD AGAINST DISMEMBERING

“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh”
(Genesis 2:24).

Let’s get it straight. God loves divorced people, but He hates the spirit of divorce. Why? Because it tears apart what God has made one. God loves making two things into one. How did each one of us begin? The sperm from our father fused with the egg of our mother and immediately we were conceived. A new person. No longer two but one. The devil hates new life. The destroyer who comes to steal, kill, and destroy seeks to eliminate this new life. Precious new babies, conceived through God’s wondrous working are dismembered limb by limb in the womb.

The devil also hates God’s plan for marriage where God brings two people together and makes them one. In Matthew 19:4-6 (NET) which is repeated from Genesis 2:24, Jesus said: “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be united with his wife, and the two will become one Flesh’? So they are NO LONGER TWO, BUT ONE FLESH.”

God’s plan for our marriage is oneness. This is the very first principle that is mentioned about marriage. He wants us to come together as one flesh, but He also wants us to be one soul, one spirit, and with one vision and purpose. The devil loves destroying God’s plan of oneness. He wants to dismember marriages. Mutilate them. In the same way he is behind the dismembering of precious babies in the womb, he determines the same for marriages. He wants to dismember them little by little and piece by piece.

The Message paraphrase of Malachi 2:15 says: “’I hate divorce,’ says the GOD of Israel . . . I hate the VIOLENT DISMEMBERING of the ‘one flesh’ of marriage. So watch yourselves. Don’t let your guard down. Don’t cheat.”

No marriage suddenly falls apart. It happens gradually. It happens little by little. That’s why we must guard our marriage in every part—physically, spiritually, and emotionally. We must guard our thought life. This is perhaps the biggest area of all. Everything begins with our thoughts.

The enemy of our souls tries to bring negative thoughts to you about your husband. Guard your thought life. Cast out every negative, self-pitying, and destroying thought in the name of Jesus.

1 Peter 5:8, 9: “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring line, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom RESIST steadfast in the faith.” Don’t become a victim. Instead, RESIST.

We must not only watch our thoughts but our spirits. Husbands are not perfect. There will be times when they may say and do things that hurt and wound the soul. This is where we must reach beyond our feelings. Instead of allowing our hearts to become hard, we soften our hearts to forgive, to forbear, and to love. We stand strong and will not allow the devil to have the victory. We will not allow him to dismember our oneness. NOT EVEN ONE LITTLE BIT!

When God talks about a man cleaving to his wife in Genesis 2;24 it is the Hebrew word “dabaq” and literally means “to cling to, to be glued, stick fast.” When God made you and your husband one, He glued you together. Satan will try to unglue you and slowly dismember you. Do not let him.

In the strength of the Lord you can stand against his temptations!

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Dear God, please arrest me when I am becoming unglued from my husband. Please help me to think “oneness.” Please help me to promote oneness in our relationship. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am going to be a “sticking fast” wife.

HOW DOES GOD SEE MARRIAGE?
Every Little Detail: Part 2

“The eyes of the LORD are in ever place, beholding the evil and the good”
(Proverbs 15:3).

It’s good to remind ourselves how God looks upon marriage, isn’t it?

Malachi 2:13-16 gives powerful words to every marriage: “Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt TREACHEROUSLY: yet she is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. And did not he make one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal TREACHEROUSLY against the wife of his youth. For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away (divorce) . . . therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not TREACHEROUSLY.”

The word TREACHEROUS is used three times in this passage about marriage. It’s not a light word. The word is “bagad” and means “pillage, to deal deceitfully, treacherously, unfaithfully, to offend, to transgress.”

God created marriage to be a complete oneness of body, mind, soul, and spirit (Genesis 2:24). Marriage is the strongest metaphor in the Bible to reveal God’s relationship with His people. Firstly, with Himself and His chosen people, Israel. God looked upon Israel as His bride. When the Israelites turned away from Him and served other gods, God said they were like a wife turning away from her husband. He uses the word TREACHEROUS again. Read the following Scripture.

Jeremiah 3:20: “Surely as a wife TREACHEROUSLY departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt TREACHEROUSLY with me, O house Of Israel, saith the LORD.” Therefore, this word, TREACHEROUSLY is used of both the wife and the husband who depart from the marriage.

The Bible also reveals that marriage is a revelation of the relationship between Christ and His bride, the church. This is why marriage is so powerful. God is the originator of marriage. Not us. He designed it. He planned it. It’s the glorious way He wants us to live on this earth.

The Holy Spirit wants to inhabit even the smallest details of our marriage. He wants to be in EVERY LITTLE DETAIL of our marriage—in our sexual union, our daily living, our attitudes, and our interactions with one another.

What could happen if we allowed the Holy Spirit to come into every detail? Every situation we face together. Every word we say to one another. Every disagreeing moment? Yes, it would certainly make all the difference.

I am challenged to do this. Are you? Can we allow the Holy Spirit to come into every little detail and moment of our marriages? He will show us how to react to one another. As we yield to Him instead of our ugly flesh, He will make our union more and more beautiful and wonderful.

This is God’s plan. He planned for it to be beautiful and wonderful, never treacherous.

Blessing from Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Oh God, my Father, help me to be aware that You are watching every little detail in my marriage. Please flood my heart with Your Holy Spirit that I will overflow in love and patience and sweetness toward my husband. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

HOW DOES GOD SEE MARRIAGE?
Part 1: A Hard Heart is Dangerous

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them”
(Ezekiel 36:27, 28).

One of the most beautiful things in life is to keep a soft heart—

A soft heart toward God.

A soft heart in responding to God’s word.

A soft heart to people who speak against us.

A soft and tender heart toward our husbands.

Jesus said in Matthew 19:8 that “hardness of heart” leads to divorce. Those are very strong words, but everything begins with our heart attitude. The only way we can keep a soft attitude is by the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives. Our fleshly nature gets offended, hurt, bitter, and then hard. We must guard against these evils.

Instead, we must yield to the Holy Spirit to flood our hearts with His forgiveness and love. But what do you do when your love flies out the window and there is none left? You still have God’s love—His agape love that loves in the face of opposition and hatred.

Romans 5:5 says: “The love of God is shed abroad (poured into) our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

Offense leads to bitterness,

bitterness leads to hardness,

and hardness leads to divorce!

Stop the downward path to destruction now. Dear lovely wife, if you are offended by your husband, or anyone else who has hurt you, get on your knees before the Lord. Forgive—there is no other option. Unforgiveness not only hurts the other person, but you, and your family. But mostly YOU.

Every time your husband sends another arrow into your soul, retaliate with a blessing. That’s God’s way. Of course, it is the opposite to our way. But our way doesn’t work; God’s way does.

1 Peter 3:8 (NLT): ‘Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. This is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing.”

The Knox translation says: “Not repaying . .  . hard words with hard words, but blessing those who curse you,”

And here is one more from The New English Bible: “Do not repay wrong with wrong, or abuse with abuse; on the contrary, retaliate with blessing.”

And while you are on your knees, don’t forget to open God’s Word. It always set us straight. I love Psalm 119:165: “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”

PRAYER:

“Dear Holy Spirit, thank You that You live in my heart, shedding abroad God’s love and forgiveness throughout my being. Please move mightily in my heart to fill me to overflowing with love and sweetness. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am resisting all hardness of heart and embracing the soft, sweet anointing of the Holy Spirit in my life.