How “asunder” can be nothing but painful.
Message Magazine’s Online Devotional for Thursday, November 20, 2014
Based Upon Matthew 19
God’s standards are so much higher than ours in every possible way. This is a good thing. For instance, how would you feel about amputating a part of your own body? Some of you may have had this done, due to unfortunate accidents or disease. But, imagine the amputation happened without anesthesia, and you had to perform it yourself, not a doctor. Banish the thought!
Divorce is like amputating a body part without anesthesia. Now, that’s graphic. Scripture says that what God hath joined, people should not amputate. “Put asunder” is so much more vague and palatable since we don’t use that phrase in our daily way of speaking, but we must not miss the point Jesus clearly made:
The two people, become one flesh. The only way to separate part of one’s flesh is to cut it off, and that is a painful process.
He was clear that there is a cause for biblical divorce, but He also made it clear that it was not so from the beginning. It was only allowed, because of the hardness of our hearts.
When we really think about it, marriage is most spoken of in context of our relationship with God. What is the ideal for that relationship? What picture of that relationship would God be pleased that we portray if our marriages are to be representative of it? Should we choose to be at odds with our God? Should we cheat on our God? Should we lie to or abuse our God? Should we break our vow to Him and just up and abandon our God? Should we be disrespectful of His feelings? Should we neglect to invest quality time with Him? Should we say things to Him that we wish we could take back? This puts things into perspective, doesn’t it?
All that the Bible teaches are ideals for our benefit. All that the Bible teaches for us to emulate can be our experience, if we surrender our will to Him. The same God who created the worlds with the breath of His mouth and powerful commands, can restore our marriages. Remember, it is God of whom we speak. Will we have trials? Yes. Will we have disagreements? Yes. Are we stubborn sometimes? Yes. Is God able to keep that which we have committed to Him until He returns? Yes. What God hath conjoined (in marriage), let no man (or woman) amputate.
