We are about to read the passage that prickles the hair on the backs of those who have experienced divorce. I am praying for you and I hope you will keep reading. I’ve watched as men and women grieve in the pain of separating “what no man (or woman) should have torn apart” in vows originally said. Divorce is wildly acceptable in our culture today but full of hurt and devastation. But guess what this malady was also rampant in Moses’ day. But there was a definite difference in how it all played out. Women were not considered in the separation—just let behind. Men treated them as property to be discarded.
So, Moses asked God what to do about the situation of selfish men leaving their wives in destitution with no means of survival. As a temporary solution and concession, a “certificate of divorce” was created for this act of whim and selfishness of men. It also became a way to protect the woman left without means of support and freed them to marry again. Down through the generations, it became a matter of “legality” and a concession for men to walk away from what God intended for good.
It seems mankind continually seeks “loopholes” to avoid complete obedience to God. This is just one more way. The hurt that causes bitterness grieves God as He watches those who go through it and are affected by divorces of relationships.
Perspective: God’s Word tells us clearly “God hates divorce” but do we realize why? (Malachi 2:16) God hates and grieves over what clearly hurts us deeply in ways that affect families forever. I was told from a grieving divorced woman that death of a family member is final and though we mourn it is a little easier to move forward than in a divorce situation where the hurt plays out repeatedly as it affects our children and their children. So yes, God hates what hurts us deeply and affects our relationships with each other forever.
Marriage takes work—daily and forever! This work pays off exponentially! Since marriage is God’s work of “art” in two people who love each other, God helps us in the work of perfecting His love in both the man and the woman who love Him. Realize also that God designed man and woman to be different—on purpose—not just for reproducing and not to produce quarrels over our differences, but to bond a man and a woman with His strength, power, and wisdom to face the challenges of life on earth together while doubling their contribution in this world. God’s Word also points out that because of our differences, “two become better than one!” (Ecclesiastes 4:9)
Mark 10, The Message
1-2 From there he went to the area of Judea across the Jordan. A crowd of people, as was so often the case, went along, and he, as he so often did, taught them. Pharisees came up, intending to give him a hard time. They asked, “Is it legal for a man to divorce his wife?”
3 Jesus said, “What did Moses command?”
4 They answered, “Moses gave permission to fill out a certificate of dismissal and divorce her.”
5-9 Jesus said, “Moses wrote this command only as a concession to your hardhearted ways. In the original creation, God made male and female to be together. Because of this, a man leaves father and mother, and in marriage he becomes one flesh with a woman—no longer two individuals, but forming a new unity. Because God created this organic union of the two sexes, no one should desecrate his art by cutting them apart.”
10-12 When they were back home, the disciples brought it up again. Jesus gave it to them straight: “A man who divorces his wife so he can marry someone else commits adultery against her. And a woman who divorces her husband so she can marry someone else commits adultery.”
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13-16 The people brought children to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus was irate and let them know it: “Don’t push these children away. Don’t ever get between them and me. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom. Mark this: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.” Then, gathering the children up in his arms, he laid his hands of blessing on them.
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
Marriage is a work of art by God’s design. I pray for all who are married to let God do in our marriages what He wants—for what He wants is always best! If you don’t know what that is—Pray, ask God, He will tell us! He would rather we face our difference with His wisdom and help as opposed to seeking a certificate of divorce that causes pain forever.
If hopelessness overwhelms, seek forgiveness for failed relationships. He is the God who heals! God sees us, knows what we need, knows what we are going though and knows we are not perfect. God offers perfect and complete forgiveness through Jesus. Jesus restores hope and heals our broken hearts. There is nothing that we have done that He won’t forgive. God loves us and wants to help us. God tells us He even delights in all the details of our lives, so tell Him! (Psalm 37:23) There is no one like our God!
Parents who brought their children to Jesus are to be commended for their dedication to Jesus. The disciples missed it, but we who are parents do not miss what the parents were doing. We do the same as we strive to consistently bring our children to the One who saves us all for eternity. Childlike faith that trusts God completely—without seeking “loopholes” to disobey, which is childish—is what God seeks from all of us. Jesus said it and I believe it!
Trust God. Here’s why—
“For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.” Isaiah 41:13
“Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8
“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:7
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” 1 John 4:18
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” 1 John 4:7
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” John 10:11
“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:16-17
“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
“Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.” Isaiah 54:4
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” I Corinthians 13:1-7, ESV
“So we know the love that God has for us, and we trust that love. God is love. Everyone who lives in love lives in God, and God lives in them. If God’s love is made perfect in us, we can be without fear on the day when God judges the world. We will be without fear, because in this world we are like Jesus.Where God’s love is, there is no fear, because God’s perfect love takes away fear. It is his punishment that makes a person fear. So his love is not made perfect in the one who has fear. We love because God first loved us.” 1 John 4:16-19
Lord,
I praying in gratitude over these promises and help for direction!
In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen!
Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus) 