Deuteronomy 24:1 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house . . .”

March 11th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

This is a familiar verse to New Testament believers. In Matthew 19, the Pharisees referred to this verse as a command; but Jesus corrected them, saying it was something Moses had allowed or permitted because of the hardness of the people’s hearts. Jesus’ point was that sin causes divorce, but divorce is not the unpardonable sin. Unbelief is the only sin God cannot forgive, because where there is unbelief there is no repentance.

The increasing frequency of divorce is a growing problem in our nation as well as the world. When a marriage ends in divorce, everyone is hurt, whether the people involved admit it or not. Some are so hurt they never want to marry again, and instead compromise, choosing to live with someone without getting married again. We can be sure that almost every person reading this devotional has been touched in some way by divorce, them personally, their parents, their children, or their siblings; but most people know someone well, who has suffered through the pain of divorce. A 2009 Gallup Poll indicated that those who experience divorce often draw closer to God by praying and reading the Bible more frequently. However, the same poll also found that those who are separated and divorced feel alienated from their church. The common complaint is that churches focus on the needs of intact families and ignore the broken ones. The Gallup Poll closes with:

From the standpoint of the church, divorced people are an intriguing and challenging group to try to serve. Their lack of church involvement may make them appear to be alienated or hostile to religion in general. But their private religious practices—frequent Bible reading, regular religious television and radio exposure and dedication to prayer—show that they are far from being a lost cause.

That last line should bother us a great deal because the term lost cause is foreign to God’s way of thinking. We serve the God of the second chance . . . the third chance . . . and so on and so on. We serve the God who goes out looking for the lost and tells us to do the same. The parable of the shepherd who left the 99 sheep to find the 1 that was lost, ends with this beautiful statement:

And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!” I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance (Luke 15:6–7).

“LORD, use us to minister to a struggling person this day.”

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Deuteronomy 24 KJV

¹ When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.   ² And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife . ³ And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife; ⁴ Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that isabomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance. ⁵ When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.  ⁶ No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh a man’s life to pledge. ⁷ If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and maketh merchandise of him, or selleth him; then that thief shall die; and thou shalt put evil away from among you. ⁸ Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them, so ye shall observe to do. ⁹Remember what the LORD thy God did unto Miriam by the way, after that ye were come forth out of Egypt. ¹⁰ When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge.  ¹¹ Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee. ¹² And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge: ¹³ In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the LORDthy God. ¹⁴ Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates: ¹⁵ At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee.  ¹⁶ The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin. ¹⁷ Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow’s raiment to pledge: ¹⁸ But thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing. ¹⁹ When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands. ²⁰ When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.  ²¹ When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.  ²² And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing.