Holding It Together Series

No one knows the pain of divorce more than one who has been divorced. Divorce is not a topic that I can talk about from personal experience; in twenty-one years of marriage Susie and I have never even entertained the idea. I found a couple of poems which express the pain of divorce.

I see a sea of blue,

It reminds me of you.

I cry, I weep,

I cannot sleep.

I am here and you are there,

Knowing that you just don’t care.

My pain inside I just can’t bare.

Knowing that you just don’t care.

I hear a song, and I cry.

I can’t believe you said “good-bye.”

I feel hurt.

I feel pain.

Nothing left in life to gain.

I am here and you are there,

Knowing that you just don’t care.

WHAT IS LOVE?

Love is bearable to all things.

Love is caring to all things.

Love is understanding.

Love is believing in each other.

Love has no secrets.

Love holds no grudges.

Love tells no lies.

Love asks no questions.

Love can be the best thing that happens to you.

Until it dies.

(Poems ©2001 M. Sims; OJar.com)

The poet has felt the pain of shattered love. A broken heart feels that love will only lead it on “until love dies” again. I too believe “love can be the best thing that happens to you,” but I have found love hopes, love perseveres, love never fails (see 1 Corinthians 13 7-8).

The prophet Malachi provides us with “Godly Insight for Daily Living.” Malachi opens his message laying a foundation of God’s eternal love. He then addresses how we come to God in worship and our need for repentance. Now Malachi is going to hit us all right where many of us live–marriage.

Some may be tempted to “tune out” thinking a message on marriage and divorce is not relevant to your life. Marriage is more than just a loving relationship between husbands and wives. MARRIAGE IS THE SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION FOR ALL OF SOCIETY; it is the cornerstone of how we relate to one another within our community. Male and female; young and old; regardless of your religious persuasion or ethnic background, MARRIAGE AFFECTS US ALL.

How important is the marriage relationship? Spin the hands of time and stop anytime throughout history, and spin the globe and stop anywhere man has lived and you will find a culture that is built upon the marriage relationship between men and women. Cultures may differ on how a couple is joined together in marriage and may even differ on the number of wives a husband could take, but the foundation of all relationships grows out of the marriage relationship.

MARRIAGE AFFECTS US ALL; it is the spiritual foundation for all society. If you begin to altar the concept of marriage, you are changing the foundation upon which our culture has been established. If we are not careful in our approach to the marriage relationship, then our entire society as we know it could crumble and fall all around us.

+ Malachi 2:10-16 10Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another? 11Judah has broken faith. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves, by marrying the daughter of a foreign god. 12As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord cut him off from the tents of Jacob--even though he brings offerings to the Lord Almighty. 13Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. 14You ask, "Why?" It is because the Lord is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. 15Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. 16"I hate divorce," says the Lord God of Israel, "and I hate a man’s covering himself with violence as well as with his garment," says the Lord Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith. (NIV)

GOD HATES DIVORCE.

The Lord says, “I hate divorce” (verse 16). God does not say, “I hate the divorcee.” Don’t miss this point: GOD HATES SIN, BUT LOVES THE SINNER!

If you have been divorced, we are not here to throw stones at you. Our prayer is that you may find healing wholeness through Christ.