Time to Work it Through, Not Bail Out

What is a wife to do if she is married to an insensitive clod? Must she submit to a man like that? The people of the world would tell you that if your old man doesn't toe the line, you have no obligation to be a good wife to him. Stand up for your rights, they would say, and battle him tooth and nail. And if he doesn't straighten up, dump him! Get rid of him! Get the big 'D."

But God says, if you are my child, you ought to act differently from the world. You ought to obey my commands. In the book of Leviticus 18:1-5, it says:

"Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: I am the Lord your God. According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall; not do; and according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do; nor shall you walk in their ordinances. You shall observe My judgments and keep My ordinances, to walk in them: I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.'"

Don't live like the Egyptians or the Canaanites. In other words, don't live like the world. Don't do what they do. Instead, follow the commands of God. That's pretty clear. The Lord wants you to do things His way, and His ways are different from the ways of the unsaved pagans.

Or in the New Testament, it says this same thing. Ephesians 4:17 teaches, "This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind." Translation? You are a Christian, so act like it. Don't live like the World lives. There is nothing but futility if you live that way. It shouldn't matter if the whole world walks to a different drummer, you should obey God. You should listen to His drumbeat.

The simple truth is, for a Christian, divorce in those situations isn't an option. Way back in the book of Malachi, we can read this truth. Malachi 2:16 says, "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." Divorce is a violent thing. It tears apart hearts and homes. It destroys the lives of children. And God hates it.

Jesus went all the way back to creation to make that point in Matthew 19:4-6, "And He answered and said to them, 'Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." It is a violent thing to tear apart a family. And God hates it!

Certainly there are exceptions to the No Divorce rule. In Matthew 19, Jesus even gave the one of continuing sexual sin on the part of a spouse. But God's intention for marriage is that it last till death do you part. There is no exception for your husband being an insensitive clod. As a Christian you must preserve your marriage and learn to make it work. Your choice than is this: Do you make the best of it, doing your best to please God and obey Him? Or do you follow the world and trash your relationship with your husband? But to trash your relationship isn't going to please God. The choice is yours.