How close are you joined together as husband and wife? How close does God want you to be joined together?The word that God uses for marriage closeness is the Hebrew word “dabaq.” It is translated “cleave” in Genesis 2:24 which means “to cling to, to follow close, to stick, to be joined.”
Other English words are used in other passages and each word helps us to understand more of the oneness God desires in the marriage relationship. I love the passage where it is used to describe the leviathan in Job 41:15-17 (HCSB). Let’s read the description: “His pride is in his rows of scales, CLOSELY SEALED TOGETHER (dabaq). One scale is SO CLOSE TO ANOTHER THAT NO AIR CAN PASS BETWEEN THEM.” They are joined so closely that they cannot be separated.
What do you think of that ladies? God wants us to be joined so closely that no air can pass between us! Impossible to separate. What a great description of cleaving!
When Jesus was on earth, He confirmed Genesis 2:24. When answering the Pharisees about marriage, He said in Matthew 19:4, 5 (HCSB): “’Haven’t you read,’ He replied, ‘that He who created them in the beginning made them male and female . . . For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh? So they are no longer two, but one flesh.’”
Jesus not only confirmed God’s original words but elevated them to a greater level: “Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not sperate.’” This means we are to be glued together, never to come apart. We are so stuck together that’s it’s well-nigh impossible for anything or anyone to pull us apart.
My grandson said to me recently, “Nana, they call a husband and wife a couple. But doesn’t God say they are one?
“Yes, you are absolutely correct,” I replied.
Maybe, rather than saying, “Look at that lovely couple walking along,” we should say, “What a lovely “oneness” walking together.”
How close are you making your marriage?
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
Painting by Kin Johnson
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“Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought”
A modern trend in parenting is to make our children happy. Whatever we can do to make them happy is the aim, even if it’s giving in to their whims and wants.
Many mothers find cooking for their families a chore. “Oh no, not another meal to cook for this hungry family.” “Here I go again, day after day with no let up!”
Did you notice I wrote the words, sacred AND secular, rather than sacred OR secular? God does not separate religious things with secular things. He wants everything in our lives to be touched with His divine presence. He wants everything in our homes—each person, each piece of furniture, and even all the pots and pans and utensils to be anointed with His presence (Zechariah 14:20, 21).
I was arrested by a Scripture I read this morning in Isaiah 26:18 (NET): “We cannot produce deliverance on the earth, people to populate the earth are not born.” The NLT says: “We have not given salvation to the earth, nor brought life into the world.”
Don’t be swayed by the lies of feminism that degrade the role of wife and mother. Embrace who God created you to be.
by Kathy Walker
If only we could truly comprehend the privilege and power we have as mothers to bring into this world an eternal soul who will live forever! Without mothers this world would come to a halt and eternity would stop filling.
“O that God would give every mother a vision of the GLORY AND SPLENDOR of the work that is given to her when a babe is placed in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse into the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into its soul to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny,--she would see that in all God’s world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers and she would commit to no other hands the sacred and holy trust given to her.”
Our God is a good God. And because He created us in His likeness and image, He wants us to reveal His goodness. He wants us to be good wives and mothers. Oh my, sometimes we feel as though we are “bad” wives and mothers. We can fail so often.
Never be ashamed of your great career of raising your children in your home. You are in the perfect will of God. You are fulfilling the biblical mandate. You have the most powerful career in the nation!
Chatting with a couple recently, the husband said to me, “I’m concerned about our teenage daughter. When she gets up in the morning, she is very uncommunicative and miserable. The wife spoke up on her behalf and said, “Oh I think she’s just tired.”
During testimony time at an Above Rubies retreat, a mother shared how they had just moved into a new home. As she began to get everything into shape, she decided to begin at the center of her home. She said, “I began with my table, and then my dining room. I wanted to make them special and beautiful. I want to make them a place of wonderful memories for my children.”
Motherhood is hard work. Managing your home efficiently is hard work. Keeping your garden is hard work. But it is all with it. And hard work never killed anyone. It is good for your soul and good for your body. My father, the hardest working man I have ever known in my life, used to say, “There’s no fun like hard work.” He reveled in it.
Mothers are finders and keepers,
I love testimony time at our Above Rubies retreats when women share their stories. I love hearing about the little anecdotes too. One mother shared how she loves wearing her I LOVE MOTHERHOOD bracelet, but it went missing. Guess where she found it? In her toddler’s potty with the pee!
What kind of an atmosphere should be in our homes? Jesus showed us when He told us how to pray. Read the Lord’s Prayer again in Matthew 6:9-13. The Luke 11:2 passage says: “Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth . . . ”