ICS Daily Devotions
God Expects Faithfulness in Our Covenant Marriage
Malachi 2:13-16 And this you do with double guilt; you cover the altar of the Lord with tears [shed by your unoffending wives, divorced by you that you might take heathen wives], and with [your own] weeping and crying out because the Lord does not regard your offering any more or accept it with favor at your hand. 14Yet you ask, Why does He reject it? Because the Lord was witness [to the covenant made at your marriage] between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously and to whom you were faithless. Yet she is your companion and the wife of your covenant [made by your marriage vows]. 15And did not God make [you and your wife] one [flesh]? Did not One make you and preserve your spirit alive? And why [did God make you two] one? Because He sought a godly offspring [from your union]. Therefore take heed to yourselves, and let no one deal treacherously and be faithless to the wife of his youth. 16For the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I HATE divorce and marital separation and him who covers his garment [his wife] with violence. Therefore keep a watch upon your spirit [that it may be controlled by My Spirit], that you deal not treacherously and faithlessly [with your marriage mate].
The Christian covenant marriage is one which is binding, unbreakable, closest, most solemn and sacred of all contracts whereby the absolute union of two parties mutually share all assets, talents, debts and liabilities, till death do you part. It reflects God’s covenant with His people in the Bible.
The Lord was the unseen and most important witness at the time we exchanged our marriage vows to enter into a marriage covenant. God looks at the marriage covenant seriously and expects us to honour it because He is a covenant watching God. God is not pleased when we treat our spouse in a way which violates the covenant. God expects faithfulness in our marriage covenant.
Proverbs 2:16-17 To deliver you from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her words, Who forsakes the companion of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God.
The wife of one’s youth (Malachi 2:14) points to the faithfulness over a long period of time from young to old age. Because a man has known his wife from the time they were married in their youth, he should be always faithful to her throughout the years. It was by covenant that the woman became the man’s wife. God is calling the man to be loyal to his marital vows. Marriage is not to be based on feelings of romantic attraction, but on the solid rock of covenant commitment.
If we treat our spouse treacherously, we have violated a fundamental covenant and have disqualified our integrity before God. If we are to be successful in our spiritual life, we, both men and women, must give attention to the faithfulness in our marriage relationship.
Sermon: Marriage covenant
