Malachi 2:16,17
‘“For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with violence,” says the LORD of armies. “So be careful about your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.” You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, “How have we wearied Him?” In that you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them,” or, “Where is the God of justice?”
Divorce has become so commonplace in our day. God says, “He hates” it. Divorce shouldn’t be easily attained. In California “no fault divorce” has made it much quicker. That being said, it’s still not easy. I had a friend get divorced and it took nearly two years to complete.
Why does God hate divorce? It dissolves the union that was made which was supposed to last all of their lives. The couple was made one through the ceremony and the sexual act. If children are present, then there is a greater tearing apart of the bond.
Marriage is sacred in God’s eyes as it represents the union of Christ and the church. The Song of Solomon is in the bible portrays the beauty of the marriage union. However, that is a analogy of the union of Christ and the church. God so loves us and He wants us to love Him. The mutual love is to be like Christ and the church.
The husband in today’s passage was the guilty party. It says that he “dealt treacherously” with his wife. That could mean several things; he was mean, selfish, dishonest, he cheated and so on. In ancient times, women weren’t as empowered as they are now. It may not have been difficult for the husband to abuse the relationship.
Verse 17 of todays passage gives us some insight, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them”. They were twisting God’s principles. It reminds me of our day. There is so much talk about God’s love and very little about His principles. Part of this was done when God was removed from public life, no prayer in schools and no Ten Commandments in the court houses. People know less.
People have also become hostile to God’s ways. If a passage is shared to form the basis for policy, then some get angry. They try to say, “separation of church and state”. However, when our founders were almost all christian and christianity is all throughout our founding documents.
We have some churches that have abandoned the bible. They get their direction from culture. What they have done was a fulfillment of today’s passage, they call good evil and evil good.
When we get our eyes off of God and HIs Word, then we drift. We have lost our true north. When we do that our thinking gets distorted (Romans 1:21,22). At first it’s a purposeful choice to abandon God, but after that we become deceived and are lost without knowing it.
What’s bizarre about this deception is that it’s more common with those that are more educated, those that have higher iq’s. These are seen as the brightest in our day. When I turn on NPR and listen to them, they seem so smart. Many are drawn there because they seem so intelligent. Actually, these are like the pharisees of Jesus’ time. They were the most educated. However, most of them missed God’s Messiah and His ways. They were the leaders of those who opposed and killed Jesus. NPR and it’s crowd are far from Jesus. They are deceived. While the NPR crowd aren’t necessarily treacherous to their wives, they put nearly no value in God and His Word. So, the condemnation of todays’s passage would be given to them.
What we all need is to fear God. That fear drives us to His Word. How we treat others is an indication of how much we fear Him. The most important of our relationships is our spouse. If we fail there, then we have errored greatly.
Ephesians 5:25 says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her”. Jesus was so focused on giving Himself up for the church. Are we that intent on loving our wives? Lord, help us to be. Help us to fear You and seek You. In the process we will be loving our spouses.
Thank You, Lord, for being in our lives. You’ve given Your Word to guide us. Help us to heed it. Help us to draw nigh to You and be those that walk closely with You.