The Divine Favor for Marriage (Part 1)

Marriage is a good thing. Marriage is a God thing.

Marriage is Good for Most

• Marriage is good for those who have the gift of marriage (which is most of us).

Proverbs 18:22 (ESV) He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.

Genesis 2:18 (ESV) Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

• Singleness is good for those who have the gift of singleness.

Matthew 19:9-12 (KJV) 
Mt 19:9 (KJV)  And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
Mt 19:10 (KJV)  His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.
Mt 19:11 (KJV)  But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.
Mt 19:12 (KJV)  For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.

1 Corinthians 7:7 (NASB) 
Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am. However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that.

1 Corinthians 7:7 (NLT2) 
⁷  But I wish everyone were single, just as I am. But God gives to some the gift of marriage, and to others the gift of singleness.

• If you have the gift of marriage, trust God’s timing.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 (KJV) 
¹  To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (KJV) 
¹¹  He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

A Good Marriage is God’s Will for You

• A good marriage is God’s will for you.

Ecclesiastes 9:9 (HCSB) 
⁹  Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your fleeting life, which has been given to you under the sun, all your fleeting days. For that is your portion in life and in your struggle under the sun.

Proverbs 5:18-19 (NIV) 
¹⁸  May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
¹⁹  A loving doe, a graceful deer-- may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love.

• If God has called you to marriage, then He certainly has prepared someone to be your mate.

Psalm 139:17-18 (KJV) 
¹⁷  How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
¹⁸  If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

%  If you are not rebellious, but submissive to God; He will give you a proper mate.

Psalm 68:6 (KJV) 
⁶  God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

Proverbs 19:14 (KJV) 
¹⁴  House and riches are the inheritance of fathers: and a prudent wife is from the LORD.

• If when you came to Christ, you were already married, then God is willing to give both of you the grace to have a happy marriage.

1 Peter 3:7 (KJV) 
⁷  Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

• The fact that some have had bad marriages, does not mean that they could not have had a good one. Man often turns a good thing into a bad thing, when he decides to follow his own inventions rather than God original design.

Ecclesiastes 7:29 (KJV) 
²⁹  Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

Matthew 19:3-9 (KJV) 
³  The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
⁴  And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
⁵  And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
⁶  Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
⁷  They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
⁸  He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
⁹  And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

God’s Way; The Good Way

Jeremiah 6:16 (KJV) 
Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

Ephesians 5:22-33 (KJV) 
Eph 5:22 (KJV)  Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
Eph 5:23 (KJV)  For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Eph 5:24 (KJV)  Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Eph 5:25 (KJV)  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26 (KJV)  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Eph 5:27 (KJV)  That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Eph 5:28 (KJV)  So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
Eph 5:29 (KJV)  For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
Eph 5:30 (KJV)  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
Eph 5:31 (KJV)  For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
Eph 5:32 (KJV)  This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Eph 5:33 (KJV)  Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

Colossians 3:18-19 (ESV) 
Col 3:18 (ESV)  Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
Col 3:19 (ESV)  Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.