Why The Devil Takes Visa Series

King Xerxes made the serious mistake of deciding to trade relationships. He decided to choose another queen instead of working out his problem with Vashti. Vashti wasn’t unfaithful, so he had no grounds for divorce.

I’m sorry about all the marriages that have broken up. I’m sorry for some of you who have gone through divorce. But all of us need to stand together to try and help marriages remain intact from this point forward. Our hearts need to go out to those recovering from divorce, yet at the same time we need to do everything in our power to see that divorce is not the answer that a lot of people think it is.

Christ followers need to be committed to making their marriage work by turning to Christ and finding ways to overcome their obstacles. Deb and I were just talking New Year’s Day about a series we want to share with you this spring about the things we’ve learned from the Word of God and in our own relationship about how to stay together even when the pressure’s on. Unfortunately we can’t get to all of that today.

What we are dealing with today is an important principle. King Xerxes made the mistake that a lot of people make today. In pride and anger, in bitterness and in response to bad advice, he ended his relationship with his wife and sought another.

Yes, as we noted at the beginning of this message, God is able to take bad choices and make good out of them.

I don’t understand how God does it – He’s God! He deserves a lot of praise for this and so many other reasons!

We’ll begin to see next week in this series that God was strategically able to make the Jewish orphan girl named Esther the next queen, and how, by becoming queen, she was able to save her people.

But that is not to say that what the king did was right. Yes, God is merciful, He is gracious, and He is kind! But don’t mistake God’s wonderful attributes with approval for our sin. By using the king’s mistake to raise up Esther, God was not promoting divorce. He was not approving how Xerxes treated Vashti. He was showing us how much He loves us, and how He can work in our lives in spite of our sin!

It is a mistake to trade relationships when the going gets rough.

Will Smith told People Magazine back in May, that he and his wife Jade Pinkett Smith had been married for ten years. When asked how, in Hollywood terms, they had remained together so long, Smith replied, “What I found is divorce just can’t be an option…I think that’s the problem with L.A. – there are so many options. So a huge part of the success for Jada and me is that we just removed the other options.”

I believe that’s a good platform on which to base a marriage. Both parties need to be committed to that precept – divorce is not an option. Deb and I have been committed to that precept. I know many others who have been. And it is a powerful tool for working things out in your relationships.

Once again, I realize this is a tender subject and I also know that some of your believed in that precept when you had spouses who didn’t. But as much as possible we need to believe that our marriages are worth fighting for!