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05 -- Is marriage good?
GENESIS 2:18-25
18 Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that Adam should be alone; I will make him a helper corresponding to him.” 19 And out of the ground the LORD God had formed all the animals of the wilderness and the birds of heaven. So he brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called every being with a living soul that was its name. 20 So Adam called the names of all the livestock and of the birds of heaven and of all the animals of the wilderness. But for himself he did not find a helper corresponding to him. 21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. Then he took one of his ribs and filled its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the LORD God had taken from Adam he built into a woman and brought her to Adam. 23 Then Adam said, “This now is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of a Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and stick to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh. 25 And Adam and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
God had made man to be responsible for the animals, the plants and all the earth, but not for human beings. This principle we have to understand and put into practice in schools, in the economy and in politics. All humans are fundamentally free, but the animals, God had given them to man to take care of them and to understand them and to lead them. This is the meaning of Adam calling the animals by name. But man therefore remains concealed from other humans, not able to understand the matter completely. Also he is not to judge him, because that is related to the power of God, for He knows what is inside man, whom He created in His image. And He knows the secrets of your soul, with all its corners and complexes and needs. He is able to heal you.
Now God knows that man needs someone to help him, closer to him than his parents. For this He created for him a woman, who is not lower than him in rank, rather she is compatible to him. And the description of the manner in which she was created, points to her being his equal, as an old commentary puts it: “God did not take the rib from the head of man, so that his wife would rule over him. And He did not take it from his feet, so that he would trample on her. Rather, He took it from his side, so that she would stand next to him and serve him, just as he serves her with love and patience and joy.” Even though the man became the head of the woman after the fall into sin, it is nevertheless he who leaves his family and sticks to his spouse, and not the opposite. This is a big secret, which Christ affirmed in his sayings.
Now the union of marriage is not only a bodily one, but first of all a spiritual and emotional one. God did not create for man two women or three, but one, so that he can understand her and love her and be one family with her, upon the love of which waves of hatred and need must break. So the bodily union is one part of the union of love, because the lover serves his spouse with all his being, even in the time of old age and sickness.
Thus the covenant of marriage is a gift from God, from the time before the fall into sin. And the union in the flesh in marriage is no sin, because it originated from Paradise. But, all impurity in thought, or speech or deed, happening outside of marriage, is evident sin. How pitiful it is that today that we do not live in the purity of Paradise, but rather on the slope that leads to Hell! Open your eyes, then you will see obscenity in the streets, in television and even in hearts.
MEMORIZE: Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that Adam should be alone; I will make him a helper corresponding to him.” (Genesis 2:18)
PRAYER: O Father, you know me and you know my impure thoughts. Forgive my sins and sanctify my heart and my body so that I remain pure. Keep me faithful to the companion of my life, and teach me to serve in a unified marriage, as a companion for life with all those in Saudi Arabia, and Yemen and Oman.