Malachi 2:14–15: “Yet you say, ‘For what reason?’ / Because the LORD has been witness / Between you and the wife of your youth, / With whom you have dealt treacherously; / Yet she is your companion / And your wife by covenant. / But did He not make them one, / Having a remnant of the Spirit? / And why one? / He seeks godly offspring. / Therefore take heed to your spirit, / And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.”

December 27th, 2021 by Pastor Ed in devotional

We husbands cannot help but notice here that God watches our motives and actions toward His daughters, who are our wives “by covenant.” The marriage contract is a covenant made before God as a witness, but too many today marry, “for better or for worse” but not for good. God reminds them and us that married people become one, like the members of the Trinity. A good marriage is a model of the Trinity, with the Spirit, Father, and Son so much in love with each other that they almost merge into One.

What’s God’s desire for marriage? It says here that God “seeks godly offspring,” not just population increase, not just kids—but godly kids. God then again repeats His warning to not “deal treacherously with the wife of [our] youth.” Someone said, “there would be fewer divorces if the husband tried as hard to keep his wife as he did to get her.” When both parents remain faithful to their marriage vows and walk faithfully with God, then their children receive both security and godly models, providing a foundation for their own godly living.

There was a man in Wales who sought to win the affection of a certain lady for 42 years before she finally said yes. The couple, both 74, recently became man and wife. For more than 40 years the persistent, rather shy man slipped a weekly love letter under his neighbor’s door. But she continually refused to speak to him and mend the spat that had parted them many years before.

After writing 2,184 love letters without ever getting a spoken or written answer, the single-hearted old man eventually summoned up enough courage to present himself in person. He knocked on the door of the reluctant lady and asked for her hand. To his delight and surprise, she accepted.¹

All she was waiting for was his face-to-face apology and a personal proposal.

“LORD, grant to us a humble heart this day as we serve You and others.”

¹Lenya Heitzig and Penny Pierce Rose, Pathway to God’s Treasure: Ephesians (Tyndale House Publishers, 2001). p. 124.