And this is the second thing you do: You cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and crying; so He does not regard the offering anymore, Nor receive it with goodwill from your hands. Yet you say, “For what reason?” Because the LORD has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously; yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. ‘ “ For the LORD God of Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one’s garment with violence,” ‘ says the LORD of hosts. “ Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.” Malachi 2: 13-16, NKJV.
Today dear God, as we begin to look at some of the problems that afflict us as families, we commend ourselves into Your care, and ask that You keep us from all evil. In the blessed name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
For the last few days of this month of February, the month that we have designated as the month of Love and Friendship, we will be looking at the problems that we, as families of the world have had to face, and are facing, especially, as we draw near to the end of time. Perhaps the most obvious of these problems is that of divorce. In a perfect world, before the entrance of sin, it was unheard of. Listen to Jesus’ words, ” ‘ “He said to them, ‘ “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. . . ” (Matthew 19: 8, emphasis provided).
I believe it is especially prevalent in our day, because of the the attitudes of the last days “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, . . unloving, unforgiving, . . . having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3: 1, 2a, 3a, 5). This is an indication that not only the world, but the church, as well, will be affected by these attitudes.
Jesus said that it was because of the hardness of people’s heart, that Moses found it necessary to permit a bill of divorce. People who love themselves, who are unloving to others, unforgiving, and who have not found it in their hearts to forgive, can be described as having hard hearts. Notice that all of these sins are geared toward protecting, or indulging, self.
We make self number one. The love that should be given to God, and shared with our neighbor, we lavish on ourselves. So there is no incentive to love others. Forgiveness, is out of the question. You hear the saying, “Once bitten, twice shy.” And to be called a Christian requires much less effort than actually being a Christian. So the form of godliness prevails.
Even Jesus’ disciples who spent approximately three and one half years with him found the Savior’s attitude toward it hard to accept. Listen to their response, “His disciples said to Him, “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry” (Matthew 19: 10). It is all about self. If being in this relationship is going to cause me any inconvenience, I am out of it. The truth is, “It is better for me not to even get into it in the first place.”
As a result, we do the next best thing in our way of reasoning: “In order to avoid the cost of a divorce, let us just live together.” Because that is not accepted in a church setting, “let us give marriage a trial, but at our first inconvenience, let us call it quits!” But our quick remedies, have not changed the mind of God. He still insists that, “He hates divorce[.]” “It does something to your character. It brings out the worse in you (violence). Have you ever noticed how two people who have lived together for so many years can become the worst of enemies with a divorce? Thank God this is not in all cases, but it is in more cases than we would like to see.
The United Kingdom, in 2009 reported a 58% divorce rate! (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/md0703.pdf)
May God help us to build on the solid Rock, Christ Jesus, and allow Him to make of our homes, havens of rest, that will not fall when the torrent of problems rain upon them.
NOTE: These counsels are shared from a Biblical, not a clinical, perspective.