Some said it was simply that the honeymoon was over. Some thought maybe it had lasted too long. It was even suggested that reality needed to set in and the dull drudgery of life must be acknowledged. Others looked for a fault, a crack, an unforeseen flaw that was there all along, waiting to be revealed. They said it would take years of stress and unmet expectations and perhaps even unrealistic idealism, but eventually they knew it would be revealed. Nothing lasts forever; Nothing ever could they said. As the sick pale of failure, the lack luster glow of what used to be joy, just as the walls of Jericho fell down flat, now this too had soured.
Joy is the evidence of a right thing. Happiness is the acceptance of good and the enjoining of like minded souls. After a marriage it is often customary that the honeymoon seals the vows of spiritual and emotional union. It is a time of intense passion and emotion and commitment. Joy is the normal and natural outgrowth of this time. Its memory becomes the glue which pulls things back into perspective when selfishness and sin tear at the fabric of oneness. Fondly remembering the promises of faithfulness and long loving gazes established in the honeymoon time restores purpose to a beleaguered soul. Falling back on the memories established then can become a safety net of great comfort.
But how does it get from Joy and bliss to mistrust and condemnation? How do we promise that our world revolves around “the then” when “the now” has it spinning out of control? Who caused the pain? What evil plan launched the vile attack on the joy which should never end? After all it doesn’t happen to everyone. Some last in real loving relationships for fifty or sixty and even seventy years. Some are cut short by death some by separation beyond their control. But even those have a heart relationship which cannot be conquered. Time and distance are two common enemies of the close bonds wrought in courtship and honeymoons. Sadly most honeymoons are not repeated. Yet their repetition might bring revival of vows and commitments strengthening and restoring waning affections.
The naysayers quickly rise to the occasion of the first tremors. They always knew it wouldn’t last. They could foretell the shallowness of sudden affection would not survive the tests of time. The blame gamers point to different family members or friends who constantly cast doubts and substantiated fears. Differences between upbringings and unequal goals are often thrown to the forefront as being the splintering voids beyond repair. Every excuse imaginable is offered. Every pendant is available for kibitzing. They whisper and gossip and cast dispersion, all for their own elevation of self-importance while thinking nothing of the hurt and pain and tragedy they promote.
There is within the power of every soul to do other than what God knows they will do but they won’t. There is within the power of every prayer warrior to intercede for God’s glory and the restoration of relationships. There is within the heart of every deceived, led astray, vagabond soul the ability to return to their first love and to restore that which has been torn asunder. All things are possible to him that believes. Jesus believes in restoration and forgiveness. He knows it is possible. Sin and selfishness are convoluted mazes but it is impossible to be in division with those you have made soul level commitments to and remain in a right relationship with the God by whose name the vow of relationship was established.
There are demons in the spiritual realm who exist only to cast doubt and dispersion. Their aim is jealously, envy, strife, conflict, dissimulation, fear and even hatred. That is not even their entire arsenal. They twist scripture, encourage revenge, prevent communication and seek to have self replace Jesus on the throne of each heart. Demons whisper thoughts into the spiritual realm and plant them in the hearts and minds of unsuspecting souls. Sadly they are efficient, patient and experienced. Busy is their partner and wants and desires trump the simplicity of the “Until death do you part” promise. For many it all too soon becomes greed and not need which is clamored after.
Jesus said something about difficult demons which so many seem to have forgotten. Or maybe they just do not understand how it needs to be applied in our fragile lives. He said “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting”. In this example, the demon was tearing at a man’s son who desperately desired his healing. If we, in the midst of worldly wisdom and self aggrandizement would simply desire the healing of our marital relationship as much as that father desired his son to be set free, we would not know divorce, not any. In a divorce the demons see to it that you get the payment you deserve. After all, you were wronged and deserve justice. Jesus did not die on Calvary to give you justice. He died to give you forgiveness and restoration. He died to defeat the demons of hell and put sin in its rightful place, under the blood.
Divorce and the desire of it is sin. It is an affront to a Holy God. It is not the answer to most injured marriages. Even unfaithfulness can be forgiven and restored. Forgiveness is not as easy as divorce. It takes prayer and fasting and sacrifice and desire. The same unbridled passionate desire as originally brought two separate souls together to become one. It takes the same unbridled and passionate desire as the father who wanted his son set free. It takes the same unbridled and passionate desire that led Jesus to Calvary to die for your sin.It takes removing you from the throne of your life and placing the God who saved your wretched and wicked soul from hell back in His rightful place.
The Demons of divorce will seek to prevent you from overcoming the emotional hurt you feel and replacing it with the wisdom of God’s Word. They willingly use family and friends and false portrayals on television and in movies to encourage you to win. Yet in every divorce there are only losers. For all of the exceptions they attempt to bring to your mind you have but one answer, “That is not my situation”. The Demons of divorce supplant love with hate, trust with fear, victory with defeat and satisfaction with greed. We sing in the hymns “I’m satisfied with, just a cottage below”. It is a damnable lie. We are not satisfied with anything outside of Christ. We crave and desire as James wrote “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts”. Do not think that the intent or question of divorce ever comes from God.
Jesus said to Peter “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. So the demons of divorce slither in the back doors and alley ways of fear and doubt and sin, to put asunder what God has joined together. The demons of hell rejoice when you are tempted to consider divorce.
Finally know this: Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any one: But every one is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
The death of your love, the death of your faithfulness to God and the death of your trust in Jesus to keep what you have placed under His authority. Until death do you part…