“We all know that one of the greatest social scourges of our
day is the failure of marriages, and not just marriages that collapse in
separation and divorce, but also those which, while remaining “intact” become
severely strained and emotionally scarred. One recent study reveals that nine
out of ten marriages are ‘filled with dissatisfaction in every dimension of the
relationship’ Nor is this just a modern
malady. Marital unhappiness has been a blemish
on every age. Martin Luther, the great sixteenth-century Christian Reformer
whose own marriage became a model for generations of German partnerships
commented on the absence of good marriages in his day: ‘When I see a husband
and a wife who are at one I am glad as if I were in a garden of roses. It is
rare.’ ” p 16-17
“…we would expect God’s glory to be the most treasured
ingredient of marriage. Most often, it is not.
We treasure other things far more—rings, sex, babies. But this is because
we understand divine glory only in part. We imagine it to be exceedingly
brilliant, even blinding, causing our spines to tingle and our breath to be
stolen away. Emanating direction from God himself, we suppose it to be
matchlessly beautiful, utterly awe-inspiring, and somewhat terrifying. Beyond that, we find it difficult to
quantify. For most of us, the glory of
God remains an abstraction cloaked in a mystery. Yet divine glory is more accessible than we might
think. According to King Solomon, the
whole earth is filled with Gods’ glory (Ps. 72:19). That means everywhere we look, from the
tiniest molecule to the largest ocean, we see evidence of God’s glory. Woven into the fabric of every bird of
paradise, every polished agate, every towering sequoia, every emerald lake,
every microscopic atom, and, especially every human being—woven into every
visible component of the physical world is a breathtaking display of the glory
of the One who fashioned those components. And not just the visible world, but
also the invisible universe—or multiuniverse as astral physicists now name
interstellar space. In the words of King David, ‘The heavens declare the glory
of God’ (Ps. 19:1)” P. 20
“’[For this cause], a man shall leave his father and his
mother and [be united] to his wife, (v.24)’ Naturally we want to ask, For what
cause shall a man be united to his wife? The context supplies an answer:
because of everything God has done to form this union, be-cause of his
involvement at every stage of its development, be-cause of the heavy allotment
of glory he has invested in this partnership. We marry, not primarily for our
own benefit and pleasure, nor principally for the comfort of mutual own benefit
and pleasure, not principally for the comfort of mutual affection, nor
ultimately for the joy of bearing and raising children—we marry be-cause in a
work of unparalleled glory the Lord built this union. We marry because of his glory.” P. 23
“The blessings of a union cemented by God’s glory are
manifold. First of all, such a marriage
will be invulnerable to the vacillating circumstances of life. For many couples, change threatens marital
harmony. When time steals away the youthful
features of a wife or produces hormonal swings and unpredictable emotions,
husbands may be tempted to look elsewhere for more attractive and predictable
companionship. When the stresses of work
erode a husband’s self-respect and diminish his capacity for sensitivity, a
wife may be tempted to look further afield for her encouragement. But this will be the case only if partners
focus on the oscillating drama of feminine beauty and masculine strength. If, instead, they cling to the glory of God
as the rope that secures their union, the fluctuating circumstances of life
will, far from destabilize their marriage, provide grounds for a deeper
bond. This is because the glory of God
is stronger in its capacity to bind than circumstances are in their capacity to
divide.” P. 25
“…when spouses fix their gazes on the glory of the Lord,
they need never despair over apparent incompatibilities. While it is always
important before marriage to assess the compatibility of a potential partner, the matter becomes moot after
marriage. No alleged incompatability will ever be able to break apart a husband
and a wife, who focus on the glory of God. Differences are inevitable in
marriage: one partner may be quiet and deliberate and the other excitable and
spontaneous; one may prefer directness and the other withdrawal. But such differences will never become ‘irreconcilable,’
a line of thinking too convenient for husbands and wives today. Even the most disparate partners will be
unified by the glory of the Lord, because divine glory is more able to bind
than incompatibilities are to divide.” P. 25
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