B KE
RO N
It
hurts. It destroys. It plunges hearts into battle. It nibbles away at hope. It confirms the truth of our sinful flesh. The covenant is sacred
and the inked lines are the commitments of small vulnerable souls making a
large, strong promise to a Holy God. And
He expects faithfulness, though he knows without His presence it is impossible. He created the vow to bring together, to create
companionship and oneness out of two, and to display how weak and unfaithful we
are without Him. The vow must take away independence and image the joy of
dependence in the mirror of marriage. Breaking
the vow breaks His heart, His image, in
and to this world. He hates the broken
image and is angry with this reminder of His groaning world. And the covenant breakers become so filled
with bitter anger and resentment that all His conforming work is temporarily
covered and hidden. But His love and invitation remains. They justify, vilify,
damnify and deify themselves and each other.
The broken are thrown into a sea of doubt and darkness, and then, while
hanging over the precipice, decide whether to let go and sink into the chasm of
self and ease and feel- good -now, or to
grasp the rope of faith, and fight and captured thoughts. Those who love these dangling souls watch
the struggle and we are broken too.
The lips weary of late night
talks, the now sore knees of prayer, grief filled heart preparing to lose a newly
loved son or daughter, blurry eyes from sleepless nights of tossing, turning, praying into the
darkness. The marriage vault of trust
broken and empty, doors thrown open for all to see the void, now threatens to
remain so unless the choice to fill and allow to be filled is made. The invitation is to long arduous months of
deposit and risk and vulnerable faith. And
though brokenness can be redeemed , their world will not be the same for the
shattered pieces that lie strewn as reminders of their weakness and His loving
strength. Even as it hurts, destroys, plunges and nibbles, the sowing and
reaping can only be interrupted by repentance, and so the gospel Word is
established and proven in the broken hearts and cloudy minds that depend on His
faithfulness in the midst of their unfaithfulness. Brokenness chooses either redemption or
despair. And we all wait in the darkness
with them while these beloved broken decide if their vault will remain empty or
be filled with unseen eternal treasure.
Mk 10:6-9 But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and
female.' 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and
be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.' So
they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined
together, let man not separate.
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