Desk of Dennis Piller
2/16/2022
The Desert times of Marriage – How to Hold Fast!
In talking with some men in our Courageous Men’s group who are struggling in their marriages. I can relate to those tough times in marriage where one or both will want to quit at one time or another. There will be times when your love seems faint and your desires dim. But marriage is a covenant, not a contract. It is first a covenant with God and you and only then with you and your beloved. This is a three-stranded cord… not two. (Eccl 4:12) The Holy Spirit is the adhesive that will carry you and hold you as one during the hard and dry times AND the good times.
This is about covenant NOT feelings that change with the day.
Isn’t that true in our relationship with God also. We have seasons of living when our faith is dim and seems elusive and compromised. We are passing through a desert and God’s call is to remain faithful. Remain obedient and watchful. As with Moses and David, God has a desert for all of His servants that He is going to use in a mighty way. The desert process is part of the plan of God for all who will respond to the call of the Lord. It’s called sanctification.
Those dry seasons demand faith and obedience from those he calls and sends. His ways are above our ways. Is 55:8 They are transcendent/mysterious/beyond human understanding just like the burning bush. But like Moses, God knew him by name just as he knows our names. He promises to see us through the desert and hard times of life. His promises are clear. He empowers those He sends and although he will stretch us and prune us, He doesn't give people impossible tasks. Look at what he did through Moses and David, the disciples and so many others.
God’s word can never return void.
The difference between the casual, take-it-or-leave-it worldly attitude of marriage that is based on feelings and the Christian view of Covenant marriage is gargantuan. How do you convince a world that feels it doesn’t really need God and truth to them is what they feel in the moment? You can’t! The truth is the greatness and glory of God requires divine revelation & illumination by the Holy Spirit? Jesus makes it explicit in Mark 10:8-9. He quotes Genesis 2:24 then adds a comment that explodes like thunder with the glory of marriage. “‘The two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
ONLY GOD CAN DO THAT!
One thing I know from experience when our relationship with God grows faint and is neglected, you can be assured that the intimacy of your marriage relationship will shortly follow. However, as we pursue God, you will remain, strong and resolute with your spouse. When we come together to hear His voice & trust His plan, together you will be fulfilled. It is a three-stranded cord.
When we are faithful to your covenant with God, He makes us able to abide and prosper by His Holy Spirit, first personally and ultimately in our marriage. It is not an easy path but he tells us when all the dust settles…to stand! And Moses said unto the people, "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord”. Ex 13:14 Do not trust what you see!
When you have done all else…STAND! Eph 6:10
It is about a relationship that begins with Christ. He is the third strand of the cord that holds it together. Do not trust your feelings. Your spouse is NOT your enemy. You are in a spiritual battle. Know that. Pray. Fast. Seek God. Believe God.
Trust God and His will be done!
Lord give them strength
to trust you beyond what they can see in the natural.
Loren Daigle Rescue
