1. about Marriage

Having just downloaded the APP, I was interested to find out all sorts of truths from the Word, and even more pleasantly surprised that they have TOPICAL plans, to well, teach about different things, for eg. "courage", or "marriage", or "Relationships". At the age where people are getting married, and are emotionally involved in relationships of an exclusive nature, what does the Word have to say about it?

Most of the time when we go to Weddings, we often get the Ephesians exaltation about husbands and wives and how they should treat each other, from Ephesians 5: 22 - 31, and having gone to many weddings this year that seems to be the case, but did you know there are so many other verses talking about Marriage?

Well I'm sure for mature christians like yourself (if you consider yourself one or even if you don't) you may have known it already, but for me as a slightly backsliden and still infant christian, it surprised me to see some of these verses. Here goes:

First verse: Genesis 2:18-25:
18 And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” 19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
23 And Adam said:
“This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

This shows the origin of the relationship between a man and his wife - quite familiar to most people.

Second verse:
Proverbs 5:18-23 (if you have the app, I have skipped esther 1:20-22 but please feel free to peruse it at your pleasure). The app only puts 5:18 but I have included the entire passage since it illustrates something interesting and important:

5: 18 Let your fountain be blessed,
And rejoice with the wife of your youth.
19 As a loving deer and a graceful doe,
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;
And always be enraptured with her love.
20 For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman,
And be embraced in the arms of a seductress?
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD,
And He ponders all his paths.
22 His own iniquities entrap the wicked man,
And he is caught in the cords of his sin.
23 He shall die for lack of instruction,
And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.


It's so awesome that God wants us to "rejoice with the wife of your youth" - he wants to bless us, wants us to rejoice with our wives/husbands. You know, many non-believers think Christians are totally 'unsexual', that GOD fails to see and understand our 'sexual' appetites and expects us to sweep it under the carpet and mutilate it - that's why you have, you know, in the past, people who self-mutilate themselves in the flesh to get rid of their sexual desires and stuff: well, that's not true; see - in verse 18, GOD exhorts us to let our fountain be blessed and "rejoice with the wife of your(our) youth" - GOD's desire is for us to rejoice with the wife of our youth - to be happy with the wife that He has provided for us. that's His desire for us.
And it goes on: in verse 19, there's even some 'sexual' imagery - "let her breasts satisfy you at all times" - sounds like something rather promiscuous, and rather more like something from a porn movie or a porn shop right? Right and wrong! It may seem like it, but it is not it: what sin does is really to "pervert" what God has originally intend sex to be which is between man and wife only: the contrast is clearly explained (what one should not do) in verse 20: why should one be enraptured by an "immoral" woman, and be enraptured in the arms of a seductress? - this only leads to destruction, in verse 23 - "he shall go astray": and moreover, it does not actually represent god's perfect design for man. God's not telling us to put away our sexual desires, but keep it for one's wife/husband only. See, in verse 19 God is telling us, in fact, "let her breasts satisfy you at all times" - He is telling us that a man can, and should, be satisfied by his wife ("breasts" being an imagery for the flesh of the person) at all times, and in fact the language is very romantic and also full of that teenage love - (verse 19) in using the words "loving deer" and "Graceful doe", and moreover it says "and always be enraptured by her love" (Verse 19, second part) which sounds extremely romantic and blissful - where the man is forever satisfied by his wife's breasts, and always enraptured with her love. How beautiful and wonderfully romantic is that!



Third verse:
Proverbs 18:22
18:22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing,
And obtains favor from the LORD.
So: actually, finding a spouse is the same as finding a good thing, and by doing so, he obtains favour from the LORD. This speaks against the lie that finding a spouse is not desirable / at odds with God's purpose - it is actually a good thing.

Fourth verse:
Ecclesiastes 9:9:
9:9 Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun.
Isn't that like, everyone's little "fairytale" dream, to live "happily ever after" with one's husband/wife whom one loves? It says "LIVE JOYFULLY" WITH "the wife whom you love" - and thus is twofold: you of course will already love your wife, and you should live joyfully with her. Many times people always think that the Word always asks us to go against our human nature / desires, but that's not true. The Word asks us to go against our sinful desires, against the things that GOD did not intend for us - but the Word teaches us to follow God's design for us, ie. what our human nature was like originally before the fall of men - and deep inside us we all have a burning desire, in the context of marriage, to live joyfully with a wife/man that we love.

That's what I shall share now: there are of course many other verses that teaches us how men should live with their wives and vice versa - and all these commandments are out of LOVE for us, and not out of a desire to punish us for straying - may the Lord bless you as you read and follow His word.