Monday March 19, 2012

Read Genesis 2:18-25

 

As we head into next weekend, it is family camp weekend so our series in Deuteronomy will take a short recess and we’ll spend time looking at the concept of family throughout the Word of God.

 

An obvious place to start the journey is where God first created the relationship of marriage - Genesis 2. Interestingly, God never just created the woman for man. He went through a lengthy process which had an ultimate purpose. As God formed the creatures out of the ground and brought them to Adam, he was to name them. As he watched them he would have noticed that all the creatures were paired up - male and female. In vs18 we are told that God knows that it is not good for man to be alone but it’s only after Adam has seen and named all the animals that he himself comes to the realisation that it is not good for man to be alone. Only then does God cause Adam to fall into a deep sleep and create the woman. God takes a rib from Adam’s side and forms this into the woman, who would later be called Eve.

 

As Adam awakes from his divine surgery he sees the woman that God created for him. Having seen the animals paired off, he immediately knows that this creature, this strange, yet beautiful being, is his counterpart. This is the one that would fulfil him. In a total ‘love at first sight’ frenzy Adam blurts out the world’s first love poem. He is so enraptured by the ‘woman’ that he can do nothing but sing.

 

God then describes the elements of marriage as he designed it. There is a leaving of parents. Both the man and the woman’s allegiance changes from family to spouse. They are to still love and honour their parents but their primary allegiance is now to their spouse. There is a cleaving together between the man and the woman. There is a weaving together as they become one flesh. Such weaving and cleaving obviously includes the bringing forth of children in the world but it involves so much more. Husband and wife become one emotionally and spiritually as well as physically.

 

In today’s world it is very much up to all believers to make sure that we are fighting hard to protect the sanctity of marriage. In a world where marriages are falling apart at rapid rates and where the very fabric of marriage between a man and a woman is ridiculed and attacked, all believers must unite to fight this battle.

 

 

Prayer:

¥ Pray that God would bless and protect Christian marriages. Pray that husbands and wives would learn to love each other, serve each other and submit to each other. Pray that the evil one would not be able to destroy Christian marriages.

¥ Pray that the Lord would bless the many singles in our congregation and draw them close to Himself. Pray that there would be a growing friendship among the singles as they support each other and serve the Lord.