THE BLESSED MARRIAGE

“Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house” – Psalm 128:3a

When as a believer in Christ, you fear the LORD and walk in His Word, your portion will be the BLESSED MARRIAGE: “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house” (Psa.128:3a). The vine is noted for being precious, luxurious, highly desirable and worthy. Specifically, the “fruitful vine” tallies with God’s initial blessing on Adam and Eve when He first created them: “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.’” (Gen.1:28). Two signs of the Blessed Marriage are: fruitfulness and faithfulness. Fruitfulness goes beyond bearing children, to having a full, fulfilling, and productive life. The beautiful vine is thriving, flourishing, fruitful and productive. That the vine is “in the very heart of your house” speaks of faithfulness in marriage. This contrasts with the adulterous wife who is never at home: “She was loud and rebellious, her feet would not stay at home. At times she was outside, at times in the open square, lurking at every corner” (Pro.7:11-12).

Marriage is the first social relationship designed and created by God. Marriage is where the family starts; where the family gets its blessing or problems. The main characters in marriage are the husband and wife, each with roles and challenges. Throughout Scripture, marriage is a blessed and desirable relationship. God intended couples to relate to one another in accordance with divine principles, just as the physical universe operates according to the Creator’s design. Unfortunately, the divine intentions have been jettisoned by many. Even in Christianity, God's ideals have been reshaped by some to suit unbiblical theologies and accommodate worldly philosophies. Such flagrant flouting of the divine design for marriage accounts for the divorce rate that is tragically high.

No Christian marries with the intention to divorce their spouses. Yet, we see Christian couples having difficult marriages and for some, divorce has become an option. The latest trend globally is people divorcing in their 50s and 60s, when the children are grown and the merely tolerating couple conclude that “enough is enough”! God did not leave humankind to guess how to have a Blessed Marriage, but through example, precept and commandment, He has provided all the essential guidance needed by every married couple and every person contemplating marriage. The Manufacturer of Marriage has encoded in His Manual – the Bible – every instruction required for a Blessed Marriage. The Lord Jesus reiterated the divine dimension to marriage in His response to a question on divorce: “But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female” (Mk.10:6).

On the Question of Marriage, the Lord always pointed back to the initial design for marriage, which has not undergone any changes! We are the ones that have changed and hence we need to bend ourselves to God’s original plan and not the other way round. Just because things are not working out in many marriages does not mean the marriage institution is faulty! It is the people in the marriage that are faulty – trying to run marriage by worldly traditions and philosophies. The Apostle Paul took the mystery of marriage to a higher dimension by relating the marriage bond to that which is between Christ and His Church (Eph.5:22-33).

Marriage is one of God’s great blessings in life: “He who finds a wife finds a good things, and obtains favour from the LORD” (Pro.18:22). The same is true for the woman who is found by a faithful man; she has received favor from the Lord. Marriage is a blessing from God, but God also blesses particular marriages. How husbands and wives live their lives has a huge impact on whether they’ll experience God’s blessing in marriage. Beloved, if you are married, “What is your marriage like?” Is it held together by the children? Is it a thing of joy to be in the company of your spouse? Do you feel certain warmth in the company of your spouse and cherish being found there? Do your children notice how happy you are in each other’s company and revere such relationship?