SOLEMN WHISPER DEVOTIONAL
Wednesday, 9th August 2020.
GOD STILL HATES DIVORCE
(Mal. 2:16-17; Matt. 19:6)
MEMORY VERSE: "For the Lord God of Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one’s garment with violence,’ says the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 2:16 NKJV)
Have you ever tried to separate pieces of paper that were glued together? If you finally succeed, the division would be an unpleasant sight. This is more or less the picture that divorce paints.
Divorce in the Scripture is permitted only because of man’s sin, it is a concession to man’s sin and is not part of God’s original plan for marriage, all believers should hate divorce as God does. With God’s help a marriage can survive the worst sins.
Divorce has an impact in our world that’s rarely rivaled. Whether you’ve personally been through a divorce, were the child of divorced parents, or have a close friend or relative that’s divorced, the ripple effects of divorce have touched most, if not all, of us.
So what do we do with a verse like this that tells us God hates divorce? Is it to be a word of condemnation to those who’ve crossed this threshold? Do we use it to single out divorced men and women as being on a special sinner’s list in heaven? Sadly, that’s all happened in the past. But this perspective misses the greater point that God is making about divorce.
Let’s be clear, God does hate divorce, as He hates other things (Proverbs 6:16–19). But we need to understand why, and the reason is revealed as God’s Word tells us that divorce causes one’s garment to be covered with violence. In other words, divorce is a violent act. We may not immediately think of it that way. In fact, many of us probably witnessed a divorce where both parties parted ways amicably.
But make no mistake, divorce is violent because it separates what God has joined, and He hates that (Matthew 19:6).
There should be no reason, to want to divide what God has unified, especially when it comes to the institution of marriage, because it’s the one earthly relationship where God declares the two are now one in His sight, so much so that He considers it an act of adultery for a spouse to divorce without biblical grounds and move on to another mate: “Whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery” (Matthew 5:32 NKJV).
