Sunday 13 March 2016

The Application of Wisdom In Marriage: Lessons From The Bible (3)

Genesis 20:1-5, 11-13
Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelech king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.
But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.”
Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister,’ and didn’t she also say, ‘He is my brother’? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands”

Abraham replied, “I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place and they will kill me because of my wife.’ Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not my mother; and she became my wife. And when God caused me to wander from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, He is my brother.” ’ ” 

Its another beautiful opportunity to share the truth of God’s word as we continue to learn lessons on the application of godly wisdom in marriage and by the special grace of God with the divine revelation of God’s word, our marriages and homes will shine bright for the world to see.
When the Lord laid it upon my heart to share on the topic of godly wisdom in my marriage, I didn’t know how deep this was going to get, but I am learning just as I write and share with you how important and vital godly wisdom is to a successful marriage. A wife who has been able to attain peace and rest in her marriage is not because she is lucky, it is the result of hard toil of diligence, perseverance, self-control, and above all godly wisdom that she has allowed herself to be trained in as she passes through the molding of God in marriage.
So we continue picking lessons from the lives of wives who have sought and applied that vital ingredient of godly wisdom in their marriage and the result that it has yielded for them. Previously we have considered the story of Esther and that of Abigail so we now consider the story of Sarah.
It is no gain saying that Sarah as a wife carried in her the favour of God. God ensured that His covenant with Abraham came to life through Sarah despite all odds. She was a woman who went through different challenges of marriage; she endured barrenness, she endured ridicule from her own maid servant, in fact she had to endure sharing her husband with her maid. I can’t begin to enumerate the ordeals of Sarah in her marriage but she conquered all of them and still found rest and peace in her marriage. And if I am to conclude on that, again, I will say that the application of godly wisdom was what earned Sarah the peace and rest she later enjoyed in her marriage.
The theme scripture for this post is one rare example of the application of godly wisdom that takes just the grace of God to see through. Abraham asked Sarah to say that she was his sister rather than his wife. Knowing fully well what might be the outcome of such action yet Abraham who was a friend of God still made that big blunder and his wife submitted to such a request. To a wife in this generation that is a requested that would never be granted no matter how submissive the wife is. Yet Sarah fully obeyed, not just once but twice.
Can she then be foolish? The answer is NO. Sarah wasn’t foolish, she was just applying godly wisdom in order to build her home. For sure her marriage would have been history had she refused to obey Abraham’s instruction to tell a truth-lie of her identity. But she obeyed and God came to her rescue. God was mindful of her dilemma, he knew what she was made to pass through, He tested her will to obey her husband thus obeying God and He came through for her.
Sarah did not try to solve the problem herself, she obeyed her husband’s foolish request and thus obeyed God. That may seem like foolishness to a lot of people, but it is godly wisdom put in action and God’s intervention provoked to effect. And did she keep her home and marriage? Yes, she did.
Coming to our own present generation, there are a lot of things a wife might have to do to keep her home that will appear foolish to the person hearing the story and that foolishness is what God needs to infuse and retain love and harmony in that marriage. For example a wife who personally does her husband’s laundry, polish his shoes every morning and ensures he's totally and completely taken care of might be considered foolish by someone else, but what she does for her husband is what God might be using to retain love in that home. The moment she stops, things starts to look not so good in the marriage. Trivial as those things may seem, they could be the oil in the flame of love in that marriage.
A wife who is totally in charge of the upkeep of the children and ensuring that EVERYTHING in the home is running fine, she ensures the children do their home-work and the house is clean and inviting to come to, might appear foolish and overworked. But who knows, that might be the oil burning the flame of love and peace in her home. The lady next door might see her as foolish for not pursuing a career for herself but rather slaving for her family, but that one foolish act is the godly wisdom that is keeping her marriage and healthy till date. So I ask, who in truth is foolish and who is wise?
When the outside world sees your marriage doing well and you and your husband are having a very loving relationship they conclude that you are just lucky but they never know the amount of godly wisdom that is foolishness to the world that you have invested in your marriage to attain the level of rest and peace that you enjoy and they envy. So again I ask, who in truth is foolish and who is wise?
When you begin to seek and apply godly wisdom don’t expect to see a rapid change or overnight miracle, seeds take time to grow. The application of your godly wisdom that is sown in your marriage will initially die, then begin to germinate before the seedlings starts to grow and then it becomes a full plant. But when you are consistent and you don’t stop, you are guaranteed of an harvest that far outweighs what you have sown. But the larger your seed, the more your harvest. May the Lord bless our homes in Jesus name. 

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