This devotion is a weekly ministry of the Pee Dee Baptist Association, comprised of 32 Southern Baptist churches in Dillon and Marlboro Counties. For more information call 774-8062.
Featured this week is Rev. Jim Warren, the pastor of Fork Baptist Church, Fork.
Where Does Marriage Come From?
Marriage is an institution that God created between one man and one woman. God’s design on marriage was to benefit a man and his wife and to glorify God Himself. Through this institution, the world God created is to grow and prosper. By following His instruction and methods, God will bless all marriages and all of His creation. The problem that exists today with more than fifty percent of all marriages falling apart is that man has forsaken the Creator’s design for this institution.
The first recorded marriage in the history of man and woman is found in Genesis 2:18-25, verse 18: “And the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.’” Verses 21 and 22: “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord god had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.”
In reading this passage we see that this institution was the idea of God. God saw that Adam was alone in the world and had no helper. And so He put man to sleep and created woman from man’s side. God, Who created all things, could have taken woman from any part of man’s body that He desired. However, He took woman from man’s side purposefully. Woman was not created out of man’s head to reign over him. Nor was she created from his feet to be trampled over by man. God created her out of his side to be equal to him and to be his help-mate.
Earlier, in Genesis 2:8-17, God put Adam in charge of the Garden and every animal, every plant, and even every tree except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Man’s job was to have dominion over al of God’s creation. Man was to work in the Garden taking good care of all creation and to multiply. Man was put in charge and woman was designed to be his help-mate in the process.
As we study the writings of Peter, Paul, and others in the New Testament, the full guidelines of God on marriage are given. But, as we reflect on God’s design of marriage in Genesis, the simple truth of this institution comes to life. A man who loves God and submits himself to God and a woman who does the same will together in turn do the same with their lifetime mate. So, the only way this thing called marriage works is for husband and wife both to be totally submitted to God and each other.
God made man in His image and gave him free will, so man can choose to believe and do whatever he or she desires. When man freely chooses his desires over God’s plan, the institution of marriage fails miserably. However, following God’s plan produces the intimate relationship and blessings originally intended by this Creator. When we operate only with selfish desires, we will only obtain selfish results.
* All Scriptures come out of the New King James version of the Bible.
