I’m really “going for it” here…

This is not an easy topic…

But I want to share on this…

I really do…

This is – what I am sharing in this post – my personal conviction before the Lord…

When two people – a man and a woman – being both of sound mind and at an age of understanding – from a free will – both of them – freeing entering into the covenant of marriage – when they do this if either of them were to divorce the other – then neither of them can re-marry while their divorced spouse is still alive (well they can but it is sin before the Lord – it is not pleasing to the Lord – it is not His will for their lives before Him)…

I am not talking about arranged marriages here or marriages where one party is not in their right mind – or is forced to say “I do” under fear – or where one of the parties is not entering into the covenant from a free will…

These ‘covenants’ don’t count with God – they are false agreements – they are not the free coming together of a man and woman in covenant before God…

I am also not talking about sexual intercourse or fornication, i.e. I am not trying to say that if you’ve had sex with someone but not married them that you’d be committing adultery if you then married for the first time someone other than the person who you’ve had sex with – I’m not saying that also…

Sin is sin but it appears to me that it’s better not to marry and live in sin, i.e. commit fornication (I know this sounds strange but bear with me), than it would be to get married and then commit divorce…

If things in your marriage are so bad that you physically can’t live with your partner then the Lord would seem to indicate that if you choose to leave then you would need to stay single or be reconciled to your husband or I guess visa versa for a man being abused by his wife…

Why am I sharing on this?

It’s something that’s been on my mind for awhile now and I feel to ‘speak out’ about it…

There are certain things which you just can’t do (well you can but its not God’s will that you do – the Lord will forgive anything – except denying that the Holy Spirit is the only way that you can live the Christian life – but this is not the point – there comes a time in our relationship with the Lord where we’re not thinking about what we can get away with but are thinking about how we can most please Him – I hope I am transitioning – or about to be transitioning – into that place – this is my desire)…

Marriage is so important because it typifies Christ and the Church – Christ never divorces His Church – He puts up with her – I don’t mean that in a derogatory way but I know of what I speak – He’s had to put up with me… 🙂

God did divorce the nation of Israel but the nation of Israel (blood only) was not and never will be the Church – there are some from the nation of Israel (by blood) who were divorced nationally who were not divorced spiritually who were part of the Church (spiritually)…

You know what I mean…

He who joins himself to the Lord – the symbol of marriage – is one spirit with Him – impossible to divorce yourself from the Lord…

And He will never divorce Himself from you – He is one spirit with you – spiritual consummation has already taken place – this is why marriage is such an important picture or type or symbol…

Everyone does make mistakes and God does forgive sin…

This is not the issue – the Lord doesn’t want the flow-on effects from divorced people marrying again – that’s it – it’s not a punishment – its a safeguard and a security for sin from being able to get a stranglehold on our society…

If we find ourselves in a divorced position then we are completely forgiven by the Lord as soon as we’ve repented (or accepted His will in it if our partner has initiated it and the Lord has put no guilt on us for it) but we then need to remain in a position of singleness, i.e. not remarrying, and trust the Lord to “sort things out” by either bringing back to us our spouse or even – if all efforts to “bring back” our spouse have failed – in asking the Lord to remove our spouse from this earth – so we can remarry (if this is what is on our hearts – trusting that to be of the Lord) – or to enable us to remain single – be eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom – for the rest of our lives (if this is what the Lord’s will is for us) – this is very hard but I believe the Lord is able to “come through” for us in whichever situation we find ourselves…

I was talking with my two work colleagues (my two immediate work colleagues) the other day and somehow we got onto divorce and I heard myself say to them, “If I were to divorce all it would show would be that I didn’t have enough patience to work it out” and then I said, “And if I was to start another relationship all that would show would be that I wouldn’t have any assurance that things would be any better”…

They seemed to see the wisdom in this (even though they don’t know the Lord yet)…

I hear a lot about Grace…

I believe in Grace…

I believe God’s Grace covers us when we repent from our sins…

I don’t believe God’s Grace is an excuse to go out and do something which God has specifically said not to do…

God has said not to be unequally yoked with non-believers – but let’s say you do that – become unequally yoked by marrying a non-believer – I don’t believe the Lord then wants you to divorce that unbeliever – I don’t believe He does – I believe He’d want you to repent to Him for marrying the unbeliever and then let 1 Corinthians 7 take its course…

The unbeliever might not want to live with you – the unbeliever might want to divorce you…

If so, then you’re free from the unbeliever – which is a good thing – but then have to remain single until the unbeliever dies – when you are freed from the law of the husband as per Romans 7…

The unbeliever may want to live with you and this marriage may have the Lord’s “blessing” in the sense that the Lord makes it easy for you – because you’ve repented – to “get on” with your relationship with Him, i.e. not be hindered by your unbelieving spouse…

Wherever we find ourselves we must trust in the Lord and not take matters into our own hands (well obviously we don’t have to do that but we want to as we are changed more and more and more into His Image – it’s for His and our benefit that we do – we are teaching the world about Him in this – about His relationship with His Church – we are teaching the world about Him – about His Unconditional Love and Faithfulness to His Own – His Bride – His Church – His Love)…

Even those of us who are married to those who know the Lord have plenty of areas where we need not to “take matters into our own hands” – only the Lord can achieve anything of value in our lives and we’ve all got plenty of sin to deal with…

So the forgiveness isn’t the point – the “moving on” and “starting over” is…

Matters must be addressed…

Problems must be resolved…

Issues can’t be “swept under the carpet”…

I know of what I speak…

The Lord has dealt with me on these matters (and still is – He is testing our surrender in all things – all things – nothing is left out – nothing is left behind – He is testing our surrender on all things – wait on the Lord – wait for the Lord – if you wait He will bring about His best for you – He is the God of Miracles – and He will do miracles for you – I know it – I know it – I know it)…

More than you would know…

None of us who find ourselves in these “impossible” positions can help ourselves – only the Lord can help us…

We can’t be patient…

We don’t have self control…

Only the Lord does – as we cry out to Him sharing our hearts with Him – He comes close to us and answers us out of His Heart – through the pain He ministers His Intimacy into our hearts and teaches us about Him…

Which – at the end of the day – is far better than intimacy with another male or female (depending on your gender) human being…

He is “the good bits” in any friendship or relationship we have – “the good bits”… 🙂

And He is able to hold us – and sort through these “deep desires” within us which “push us” into relationships – relationships which are not healthy or stable – He will “hold us apart” from these relationships until we’re ready to handle them “in Him”… 🙂

Love you,

Andrew