" Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put assunder." Matthew 19:6.
Contrary to popular belief today, marriage is supposed to be A LIFETIME COMMITMENT between a man and a woman. In response to a question on divorce asked of Jesus by the Pharisees, Christ replied:
"Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so." Matthew 19:8.
One of the reasons it is supposed to be a lifetime commitment is because it alludes or points foward to the Marriage of the Lamb spoken of in the Bible. More on that later.
"What God hath joined together."
Too many marriages fail today, especially in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, simply because GOD HAS BEEN LEFT OUT OF THE EQUATION!!! In our church, when a young man or young woman seeks a mate, THE VERY FIRST THING he or she should do is PRAY ABOUT IT unto the Lord. Not to say "Lord, send me a mate," but to say "Lord, cleanse me, mold me, shape me, AND MAKE ME WHAT I AM SUPPOSED TO BE in order to be the right mate for the one you will send me." When one TRUTHFULLY adopts that attitude, the Holy Spirit will recognize this, and will proceed ACCORDING TO HIS WILL AND TIME. Which brings me to my second point.
We live today in what I refer to as an "instant, microwave society" where all too often an individual will pray to the Lord this week about sending him or her a mate, and will expect the Lord to answer the prayer by this time next week. Any Christian young man or woman (or "not so young" man or woman) seriously contemplating marriage should understand that when you turn the matter over to the Lord IT IS IN HIS HANDS. He or she then needs to learn to practice the virtue known as patience. But all too often there are those who try to HELP GOD OUT by attempting to accelerate the process. Hence, one runs the risk of being united with one THAT GOD HAS NOT ENJOINED. If we expect marriage to truly be HOLY MATRIMONY, then we must allow God to be actively involved throughout the entire process.
Marriage is a very, very serious undertaking. In addition to love for one another, in order for a marriage to be a success, one must learn to FOLLOW GOD'S RULES and respect the rights of the other. In my next post, we shall continue to examine GOD'S SOLUTIONS for a successful marriage.
M.A.