"Why do people choose the substitute over God himself? Probably the most important reason is that it obviates accountability to God. We can meet idols on our own terms because they are our own creations. They are safe, predictable, and controllable; they are, in Jeremiah's colorful language, the 'scarecrows in a cornfield' (10:5). They are portable and completely under the user's control. They offer nothing like the threat of a God who thunders from Sinai and whose providence in this world so often appears to us to be incomprehensible and dangerous . . . [People] need face only themselves. That is the appeal of idolatry."
- David F. Wells
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
In preparation for an article written to husbands, I did a Bible search for the word “wife”. What I discovered is that each of the first four occurrences of the word is found in a verse that gives us truths about wives that are foundational and timeless. Will you join me in a quick tour of what the first few chapters of the Bible tell us about wives?
“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).
Your primary family unit is you and your husband. You made a promise to be united to your husband. This means that the strongest tie is not by blood, but by covenant. Where there were two people from two different families, now there is just one family and there is one life that you live together.
“The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame” (Genesis 2:25).
Before sin, before the fall, before selfishness and pride took over, this is the way God intended it to be. You and your husband should know each other physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Secrets, especially sinful ones, can be dangerous.
“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden" (Genesis 3:8.
God intends to have a relationship with both you and your husband. He is to be a part of your marriage. And like the third point in a triangle, if you are both moving closer to the Lord, you will be moving closer together. Don’t hide from God. He wants a relationship with you.
“To Adam he said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' ‘Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life’” (Genesis 3:17).
Men listen to their wives. Really, they do! It took the devil himself to convince Eve to sin. All it took to convince Adam was a word from his wife. You can have a powerful influence on your husband with your words. Just make sure that you use that influence for good, and not for evil. “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29).
“A wife of noble character is her husband's crown…” (Proverbs 12:4).
