Good day dear friends.
Let's go back to the beginning in Genesis 2:18 Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner." 19 So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken." 24 Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Notice that it is loneliness that is addressed by God to God's Heavenly court as God says, "It is not good that the man should be alone." The garden was filled with beautiful plants and trees but nothing that came to close to being a living being such as the man, so God begins to form every animal and bird and brings them to the man to see what the man would name them. The man names the cattle, the birds; every animal of the field received a name, but out of all of those he found nothing to be the cure for loneliness. Did the man have a discussion with God? Did it go something like, "Thanks, Lord, for these animals. I really appreciate most of them, some scare me. I really like the dog and the dog seems to really like me, and that monkey seems so human, too bad it can't talk! But did you notice, Lord, that out of all of those there was not one of them that could be a companion for me?" "Yes, I did, let's see what I can do?" The Bible says that a deep sleep came over the man as induced by God and out of the man's own body brings out a rib and from the rib forms the creature called woman. And it is interesting to see that the man instantly knows who and what the woman is, for he become a poet proclaiming, "At last! Bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh!" And the man names her, "This one shall be woman for out of my flesh she was created!"
Then a ceremony of sorts takes place or at least blame on a ceremony is now related to that, for in that moment, the man who knew no father other than God, learns that a man shall leave his father and cleave to his wife and the two become one flesh. This ceremony we now call marriage and in it are to be found what God addressed in the creation of the fairer sex. Companionship, partnership, love, fellowship, a journey-partner, one to share in bone and flesh, together to continue the species. In its ideal state marriage fulfills what God intended for that first man. As Paul would address later, after Moses and Jesus, that not all marriages last. Not all marriages are those that bring fulfillment to either the man or the woman, and sadly sometimes those marriages end in divorce. I say sadly, for the initial intent of most marriages begins with love and an idealism for the future and something happens along the way, and what started at an altar with the best of intentions, ends in a courtroom with the signing of legal documents. Paul understood that sometimes due to violence or abuse, marriages should end. No one should stay in a relationship where there is harm or potential harm to the other. No one should endure a relationship where the fullness of each partner is not appreciated or valued. If, after prayerful counsel and exploration of other recourses nothing can repair the marriage, then the marriage ends.
It doesn't hurt most couples to revisit this first marriage. One can only begin to imagine the innocence and joy of the first two whom God married. It would also be good to visit John 2 and the couple who married at a wedding where Jesus and His disciples visited and Jesus performed his first miracle. Choose not to stay at an unhappy place; work to make the place happier and more like what you first intended when you married.
PRAYER: God of love, come and visit all marriages today. Bring to those where there is anger or resentment, that which heals and makes whole. Visit those marriages where violence is present and deliver the one who causes it and protect the one who receives it. Bless the marriage where there is sorrow and sadness over things not realized. Make us all like Your Son, Jesus. In Whose name we pray. Amen.
Have a great and blessed day!
e.v.
