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Take Marriage Problems to God, July 17
But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and
female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and
cleave to his wife.
Mark 10:6, 7
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Too often the marriage relation is entered into without proper con-
sideration. None should marry in uncertainty. But if they have not been
properly considerate in this matter, and after marriage find themselves
dissimilar in character, and liable to reap unhappiness in the place of
joy, let them not breathe into another’s mind the fact that their marriage
was unwise.... The evil is always increased when either the wife or the
husband, finding some one who appears to be a congenial spirit, ventures
to whisper to this trusted one the secrets of the married life. The very
act of making known the secret confirms the existence of a condition of
things that would not be at all necessary if the husband and wife loved
God supremely....
In many cases where these difficulties are thought to exist, the cause
is imaginary.... If the husband and wife would freely talk over the matter
with each other in the spirit of Christ, the difficulty would be healed....
If they loved God supremely, their hearts would be so filled, so satisfied,
with His love, that they would not be consumed with longing for affection
to be manifested in acts toward themselves.
Many have mistaken the true duty of the wife to the husband and the
husband to the wife. Self becomes all absorbing, and Satan ... has his net
all ready to draw about the human soul, to get it so entangled by human
imaginations that it seems impossible for human wisdom to disentangle
the meshes of his finely woven snares.
But what human wisdom cannot do the wisdom of God can do through
the surrender of the will, the mind, the soul, the strength, the entire being,
to God. His providence can unite hearts in bonds that are of heavenly
origin. But the result will not be a mere external interchange of affection
in soft and flattering words. There will be a new experience; the loom
of heaven weaves with warp and woof finer, yet more firm, than those of
earth. The material is not a mere tissue fabric, but a texture that will bear
the wear and test of trial; heart is bound firmly to heart in the golden chain
of a love that is genuine.
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