by Terry Laughlin | Apr 20, 2016 | Love
Joined Together
Once a couple makes a Biblical separation, the element of “stability” can be applied. The Bible says, “Be joined with his wife.” (Genesis 2:24) “Joined” (dabag) means to cling to and stay with. The application is something sticking together and when used in a marriage relationship it is a man clinging to his wife, no matter what life throws at them and she sticks with him, thus bringing stability.
While attending Junior High School, our wood working instructor was making a heavy duty work bench. He did not have large enough pieces of wood to make the legs that would be needed to withstand all the stress that would be applied to the table in the upcoming years. He took several pieces of wood and glued them together with wood glue. He put them in a vice and tightened it down. After the glue dried he took the four legs to the wood lave. It spun with tremendous speed and he took different tools and carved the image he desired, amazingly the wood pieces held together. He then attached the four legs to the bench and for 30+ years this bench has withstood all sorts of pounding, moving, and the different weights laid upon it.
The fact is, it does not matter how long you have been married, there is no such thing as marriage reaching a certain milestone which protects it from the temptation of giving up. The effects of Genesis three does not go away with age or weakens because of years of experience. Satan’s attack on marriage is constant until “Death Do You Part.”
There are Biblical proofs of God keeping marriage together as long as couples choose to stick it out. “Adam an Eve endured the harsh consequences of sin: banishment from home, cursed ground, cursed relationship, cursed offspring. Yet they remained together through nine hundred years of life.” (Marriage. From Surviving to Thriving, Charles Swindoll) Joseph and Mary had to trust God’s revelations to them (Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38), knowing that most people would not believe them about Mary’s virgin conception. Consider the marriage of Hosea and Gomer: It appears in Scripture there was a season Gomar lived as a prostitute – However, Hosea was told to go to her and love her as his wife again and she was told to live a life of repentance (Hosea 3). I like what Mr. Swindoll wrote, “I can think of no greater conflict in marriage than infidelity. So serious is the damage that the Lord considers it a breach of the marital bond [without the fruit of repentance] He permits divorce. However, that’s not to say that divorce is required or even inevitable.” Hosea could have handed her justice according to the law, but instead he dealt Gomar the mercies of God, again Gomar was expected to produce the fruit of repentance.
Let the overwhelming weights of consequences, circumstance, and conflicts cause you to be joined (dabaq) together in these times when people are saying, “I want to know what love is.”
A marriage that allows God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit of Christ to join the couple together will withstand all the weight that is laid upon it. Many a Christian couple surrendered to the Lordship of Christ has enjoyed the stability of absolute devotion, absolute loyalty, uncompromising affection, and love.
by Terry Laughlin | Apr 20, 2016 | Love
Leaving Family
Once a couple understands God’s love and allows Him to place His love within them, they can properly apply the four principles found in Genesis 2:24-25. The first principle is, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife…” (Genesis 2:24) This is God’s divine revelation to a couple who want to enjoy marriage, “Til Death Do they Part.”
In order for a marriage to enjoy all that God wants a couple to experience, there must be a separation. The significance of the language, “leave” is that marriage involves a new pledge to a spouse in which former familial commitments are superseded by commitments to each other. Do not read more into this statement than the Lord intends. This does not mean that a couple abandons their parents, nor are they not to listen to their parent’s wise counsel. While continuing to honor their parents, couples are to first honor one another.
For example: A retired father wants his son to go on a fishing trip, but the husband is needed home to tend to the needs of his wife. The husband’s first priority is towards his wife. This is especially true if the wife has health needs and even if she has practical needs. However, if dad has a physical need, the son is not to neglect the need of his father to meet any selfish whims of the wife. The wife is not to spend all of her time down at moms and neglect physical and practical needs of her husband. It means that dependence is to turn from dad and mom to one another. It means to leave the security of dad and mom’s check-book to trust in the Lord to provide through each other, while allowing parents to give gifts as the Lord leads them.
While in the horse business I met a great horse trainer who was the son of a Morgan horse trainer. He helped his father, learned from his father, and honored his father. When this trainer got married to a woman who trained Crabbet bred Arabians, they left their parents beautiful facilities and built their own training facility. However, they did not train Morgan horses or nor did they continue on with the Crabbet bred blood lines. They had vision and established their own type of training center. While respecting their parent’s upbringing, they developed their own style of training horses. To this very day, as of January 2012, this couple has their own Arabian Horse Training Facility, training Polish and Russian bred Arabian horses.
If you are a couple who oversees their own business, has their own career, or is employed in the work force, you must break away from dependence on your parents and the control of your parents. Couples should feed only on the wise counsel of parents who have survived through the trials and temptations of life. Seek counsel from parents who have learned from the consequences of making choices influenced by the sinful nature, the world’s influences, or listening to the lies of the devil.
When a couple gets married they are to have their own vision, work to establish their own connections, financially and clientele, thus bringing respectability to their family heritage. Leave your father and mother, unite as one by making Jesus Christ head of your marriage.
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