Choosing to Believe the Truth About Marriage

...Because the Lies Continue to Inundate!
Pages 151-156

Let's be very clear that what took place in the Garden of Eden so many centuries ago was an attack on marriage.

Marriage is God's design, and His purpose for it is to reflect His glory. It is not coincidence that Satan launched his devious plan to destroy marriage by approaching a married woman. He lied to her about God and about His character. He lied about God's Word, and about sin and its consequences.

The woman believed and acted on his lie and then turned to her husband and drew him into sin with her.

25. The Lie: If my husband is passive, I've got to take the initiative, or nothing will get done.

The Truth: God created the man to be an initiator and the woman to be a responder.

Genesis 3:6, "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate."

As we can see from this verse, the serpent's strategy was to undermine God's authority structure by going directly to the woman.

The Truth: If a woman takes the reins rather than waiting on God to move her husband, her husband is likely to be less motivated to fulfill his God-given responsibility.

Genesis, 16:1-2, "Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai."

God had a plan for Sarah, but He wanted her to wait for His perfect timing. Instead, Sarah took the situation into her own hands and resorted to a common practice of the day. It was a way in which a barren woman could get a child through one of her own servants.

This method achieved immediate results, but it was not God's plan. The child born to her maid, Ishmael, became a lifelong source of conflict and grief.

Thirteen years later, when Sarah was ninety years old, God super-naturally intervened to give Abraham and his wife a child of their own. Their child, Isaac, brought blessing to his parents lives, and blessing to all generations.

What can free us from the drive to control the men in our lives?

We must learn to WAIT on the Lord; in His time, and in His way, He will act on behalf of those who wait for Him!

Psalm 27:14, "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!"