Today’s Verse

Genesis 2:24

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. (NIV)

When I sat down to write this week’s devotionals, I wondered why God put this topic in my lap. I haven’t been through a divorce and I’ve been married to my wonderful wife for 23 years. My parents were divorced when I was a baby, but that doesn’t make me an expert on the issue. But then I began to count the divorces in my family. Out of the first ten marriages on my list, seven ended in divorce. That means my family had a 30% success rate for marriage. While I didn’t consciously think about that family history, I do think that history of divorce made me nervous about getting married.

This week we’re going to spend time each day looking at divorce and the scars it leaves behind from a few different angles.

The reality is, marriage is under attack. Marriage and family are the first relationships God established. Marriage is a picture of the relationship between Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5). It’s a sacred commitment and it forms the building blocks that God created as the foundation of our society. In short, marriage is holy. And because of that, Satan wants nothing more than to destroy it.

I know this firsthand (as do most of you): there’s not a week that goes by where I don’t sense Satan trying to weasel his way into my marriage. I’m not perfect, far from it, so I don’t always successfully combat his attacks. I give in to selfishness, impatience, and pride. But thankfully I have been blessed with an amazing wife who sees past those flaws. She is more forgiving and loving than I deserve. And God has been with us every step of the way.

Marriage is beautiful, but it’s also really hard. It takes a lot of work and a lot of prayers. And sometimes no matter how hard we work at it, it ends in divorce.

REFLECTION

Each day this week, I want to challenge you to pray for marriages. Take a few moments today to write down the names of some marriages you want to pray for specifically. Commit to praying for them, by name, every day this week.

If throughout this week you want to talk to someone on staff at church about your marriage, or you would like to seek counseling, give us a call or click here.