Dripping Springs Weekly Bulletins

Divorce: God Hates It! Yes, it’s true, “God is love,” 1 John 4:8. And, it is also true that God’s love is for all His creation. He loves each and every person. He loves the saint and the sinner alike. He loves His children, and He loves those who are lost in sin. But you and I know that God does not love everything man does. The Bible teaches that. Proverbs 6:16-19 describes some of man’s ways that God HATES! “These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.” True, God loves many a sinner, but He hates the sin. God is also said to hate the following: A perverse person, Proverbs 3:32. Cheating in weights and measures, Proverbs 11:1, 20:23. Idolatry, Deuteronomy 18:10-12. Violence and those who love it, Psalm 11:5. Divorce, or “putting away,” Malachi 2:16. Why does God hate these? They are rampant in practice today, even among religious folk. Specifically, why does God hate divorce? Divorce tears at the very fabric of society, the church and the family. Divorce is not a benign act. The consequences are far-reaching, both to present generations and those that follow. Churches have been torn asunder by divorce and those who are party to it. When attitudes toward marriage become so flippant that celebrities among us enter into it as a “joke”, how does that affect the family? A nation with that attitude is following in the steps of ancient Rome. Their fall has been directly attributed to the weakening of the family. Divorce is dangerous to people and to nations! God has made hard, fast rules about marriage and divorce. This is not merely a secular issue, but a spiritual one. We don’t turn to the statutes of man to discover what is right or wrong here. When marriage was established, God said: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh,” Genesis 2:24. When Jesus addressed this, He added the words of Mark 10:9-11: “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. And he said to them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, commits adultery against her.” No, God instituted marriage, and He has made the rules. Divorce is the failure to fulfill a solemn vow made before God. This is specifically mentioned in Malachi 2:14-16, where God is said to hate divorce. There, He calls it dealing “treacherously with the wife of your youth,” verse 15. Marriage is not commanded by God. But, if you choose to marry, God has decreed: “When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it: for the Lord your God will surely require it of you; and it would be sin to you,” Deuteronomy 23:21. The Gentiles’ sins are recorded in Romans 1:21-32, and “covenant-breakers” was one of those sins for which God “gave them up...” Divorce carries with it eternal consequences. Broken homes, alienated children, heart-breaking pain, self-doubt, all of these are the immediate consequences of divorce. But there is more, for those who “put away” and remarry without scriptural grounds are committing adultery. Galatians 5:19-21 informs us that adulterers “shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Read Mark 10:2-11 and Matthew 5:31-32. The only person eligible to remarry is the innocent party, whose mate was unfaithful to them, Matthew 19:9. Obviously, God considers the marriage vow to be very important. So, what can Christians do to preserve the sanctity of those vows in our modern society? Each individual must take the time to study the Bible on this subject. Don’t take my word, or anyone else’s. Don’t try to bend the Bible into what you want it to say. Take a look at your own marriage. Is it in harmony with what the Bible teaches? Be honest with yourself, for your eternal destiny may rest on this. Take whatever steps that are necessary to remove sin from your life and that of your spouse. Begin now to teach your children, your family and friends what the Bible says about marriage being a serious, permanent relationship. Encourage elders to insist that this matter be a part of the teaching and preaching in a local congregation. Expect those who preach or teach to be biblically sound on this subject. Remember that such marriage issues are seldom resolved in ways that are convenient and pleasant. When Malachi wrote to the nation of Israel, he wrote words that were from God, telling them that they must change their ways. We must be prepared to make whatever changes are necessary if heaven is to be our eternal home. Is that not worth whatever it takes? Carl B. Garner

“Beautiful is the marriage of Christians, who are one in hope, one in desire, one in the way of life they follow, one in the religion they practice. They are both servants of the same master. Nothing divides them, either in flesh or in spirit. They pray together, worship together; instruct one another, strengthen one another. Side by side they face difficulties and persecution, share their consolations. They have no secrets from one another, and they never bring sorrow to one another’s hearts.” Tertullian, 160-230 A. D.

Can You Sleep When the Wind Blows? Years ago a farmer owned land along the Atlantic coast. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops. As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals. Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. "Are you a good farmhand?" the farmer asked him. "Well, I can sleep when the wind blows," answered the little man. Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man's work. Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand's sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled, "Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!" The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, "No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows." Enraged by the old man's response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away. The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew. MORAL: When you're prepared, you have nothing to fear. Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life? The hired hand in this story was able to sleep because he had secured the farm against the storm. We, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, secure ourselves against the storms of life by grounding ourselves firmly in the Word of God. Author Not Known