Thursday 11 August 2016

The Marriage Series (2)

I am thanking God for another day and another opportunity to be of service to Him and a tool in His hands in making a difference in the homes and lives of His loved ones. I thank you for keeping a date with me on this blog and I implore you to share this blog with your friends and bless their lives with the valuable lessons you are learning here.
So we continue in the marriage series, and we are still picking up lessons from the scripture I shared in my last post starting from the foundation of marriage.
With a quick recap of the last post, we learned and understand the fact that a woman was created from the man and not independent of the man as we have with other living creatures that God created. And we also learned that God made it so for a reason. Understanding and appreciating the reason why God created the woman as a unit of the man will help us understand and appreciate God’s basis for marriage and what He expects of us in marriage.

Genesis 2:18, 21-25
The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone, I will make a helper suitable for him.”

So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman’ for she was taken out of the man.”
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

In today’s post the lesson I want us focus on is the making of a life partner. Several times when a man and a woman are getting ready to marry, the first question that is believed to affirm their decision to marry each other is if they love each other. Love has been a major criterion in arriving at that decision of whether or not to marry. Several months into the marriage you find the same man and wife at each other’s throat and at the point of divorce and one wonder where is the love that seemed so strong as to bind this man and woman together for life several months back.
From what the scripture above says, the Lord made a woman from the rib He took out of the man, and brought her to the man. And this brings me to God’s method of bringing a man and woman together for the purpose of marriage. In the course of a man looking for a wife, he is bound to make mistakes, this is because all he sees in the woman he chooses outside a consolation with God is what the woman presents to him or permits him to see. If she is pretending or being real he does not and cannot know. Even God says that the heart of man is wicked who can know it.
But when a man allows the Lord to present to him the woman He formed with the rib taken from him, he cannot never get it wrong. When God said it was not God for Adam to be alone, God made a woman and brought her to Adam. He didn’t make her and ask Adam to go search her out. As a man, if you are sensitive enough you will know when the Lord brings to you the woman He has created from you and for you to be your wife. I have heard men say that from the very first day they set eyes on their wives they knew she was going to be their wife. This is beyond love at first sight; it is God impressing in your spirit what He has prepared for you even before you knew it. If the Lord directs the steps of the righteous, He will surely direct your wife to you or direct you to locate your wife.
When you see a woman and you feel in your spirit that you have met your wife, it is important to pray and get a reconfirmation from God to distinguish between lustful attraction and divine direction. It is then that you will get it right and not make a mistake.
Also as a woman when you see a man and you feel within you that you've meet the man you want to marry , it is important to consult with God first before agreeing to any marriage proposal. There are troubled marriages everywhere, and the fact that you prayed does not guarantee a marriage without trials and challenges. But if you have prayed before going into that union, you are sure that when the trials come God has already made a way of escape for you ahead of any challenge that might want to threaten the peace of your union. If the Lord led you into that marriage, you can be sure that the Lord will sustain you in that union and keep you through the troubles.
Love in marriage is essential and important but believe me, it should not be a criterion on which a marriage decision is based. This might surprise you to read, but it is a fact. If it was strong enough to base a marriage decision on, then we will not have the high rate of divorce as we have it today. Even though love is very essential for the smooth running of any marriage, it is just a means to an end. When God brings a woman to the man He created her from and for, He will infuse love in her for him as a catalyst in enabling her perform her duty in the life of the man effectively.
A good example of what I am trying to explain is the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah in the Genesis 24. From what the Bible reveals in this passage it was God who brought Rebekah to Isaac through Abraham’s chief servant. Rebekah didn’t have any problem loving Isaac and their marriage was almost trouble free because it was the Lord Himself that facilitated their union. And even when Rebekah was barren, it was not a problem she bore alone; it was a problem that her husband also prayed to God for.
Love will appear in a marriage union that has been facilitated by God; when it is God that has brought the woman to the man to become his wife, He will infuse love in that union that will perfect the joining that He the Lord has made happen.
I want us to see love as glue that joins two objects together. Using this illustration, when we use glue to hold an object to another object, if that glue is not strong the two objects will fall apart. Even when the glue is strong, there is the tendency for it to lose its strength over time and when this happen, the objects fall apart. This is the role that love plays in marriage; it is just an adhesive that hold the union of the man and his wife together. But when the originator of that marriage is God and not just love, then you are sure that the eyes of God is on your union and when the adhesive of love weakens out, God is available to renew the love in that marriage. When God and not just love is the basis of your marriage decision you are guaranteed of a lasting union. When the storm comes and strong wind of trials blow the way of your marriage, you can be sure that your home will not fall because the One keeping your marriage is God over the storms and strong wind.
This is the second lesson that we are taking away from the foundational scripture of marriage. Who or what is the basis of your marriage? On what foundation is your home built and on what basis have you decided to marry that man or woman? It is not too late to rebuild your marriage and lay the right foundation for it. It doesn’t matter if you are married already, you can still rebuild your marriage with the right foundation which is God; there is no time you invite God into your marriage that He is not willing and ready to come into it and turn it around for your good. So invite Him today and experience the difference.
This is just the beginning; we still have a long way to go in our marriage lessons. There are exciting things to learn I assure you, so keeping following the series as every post is worth your read.  

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