A long-time friend is a single man that has never been married, and we converse quite often. He is very handsome, financially stable, and over forty. He’s kindhearted, and He prays often for others. I’m impressed with his level of compassion and humility towards God, but I remain perplexed about his attitude towards marriage. I guess this is why many of our conversations are about the subject. I’m an encourager, and I love encouraging women of faith to continue believing and trusting God to cross paths with their future husbands, if this is what they desire. I know that God is faithful, and I also know there are good men out there. I consider my friend to be the kind of man that many women of faith have been praying to meet. It baffles me that meeting one of them isn’t high on his list of priorities.
The wisdom of God’s Word teaches us in Proverbs 18:22(NIV), “He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD.” Just about every single woman that’s seeking to cross paths with her future husband has heard this verse. Even so, the truth remains that marriage is not required or necessary to live a successful life as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only this, life experience teaches us very clearly that marriage isn’t for everyone. Some individuals are happiest being single, and this is a fact of life. It is important to discern whether you’re dealing with a person like this, so that your hopes for marriage are not dashed. We need to be sure that we are making the right investment with the right person. This is why one of the most critical steps any of us can take is to ask God about His plan for our individual lives.
Marriage is both extremely rewarding and challenging. Think about something, God told us about Adam’s temptation in the very beginning, in Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament. God’s Word tells us that the devil approached Eve in order to get to Adam. It shouldn’t be lost on us that one of the reasons satan did this is because there were distinct differences between Adam and Eve.
The first couple were looked upon as one unit in the eyes of the Lord, but God did not create them to be identical in their make-up. They were equal partners, but their roles in the marriage were unique and different. If they had been anatomically, behaviorally, and characteristically identical, satan would have bypassed Eve and went straight for Adam. This allows us to see that the devil will try to use the differences between men and women to destroy their unity. When God joins a man and woman together according to His purpose for their union, their union will be tested by the devil. They will have challenges, but rather than tearing their marriage down, God will use these challenges to ultimately make the couple’s marriage stronger as a unit.
Heavenly Father will continue to bless what HE has put together. He does this according to His plan and purpose, and He doesn’t need us to tell Him what He’s already planned. He will tell us. This is why, again, it is critical to seek God when it comes to partnering. My good friend believes this too, and he also shared with me that he thinks it’s important to really get to know a person. He believes a significant amount of time is required to date the person before marriage. I believe once God gives the green light that you’ve indeed met your destiny partner, a significant amount of time isn’t necessary.
God is sovereign. There is none like Him and He alone has all power in His hands. When Adam and Eve decided to disobey Him, they no longer wanted to operate within His sovereignty, where His laws and statues abide. We saw what happened when they made this colossal mistake, and we should do everything we can to avoid it. God blesses His Word and those that obey it. This is the confidence we can have in Him, that when we seek God with all that we are, He will guide us into the right situation. There is no struggle, and no strife when our Father’s blessing is on a relationship. So, the greatest thing we can do for our quest to be married is to let the Lord Jesus Christ lead us and continue being obedient to God’s Word. Heavenly Father is not slack in any way, and He knows how and when to bless us with the best person for our lives. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“No Struggle, No Strife”, written by Kim Times, edited by Reverend Fran Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2020. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.