We have been considering some things Malachi encourages us to appropriate and make a part of our lives based on chapter 2 of his prophecy. In the midst of his indictment of those who have divorced the wives of their youth and then remarried to women of other religions, Malachi gives a clear challenge to work at preserving the covenantal marriage vows.
Listen to verse 15: “guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.” And again in verse 16, “So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.”
Marriage is more than a physical relationship. It is more than a legal relationship. It is a relationship that includes God and is therefore a spiritual relationship. God is the one who makes a husband and wife “one.” Malachi says, “In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring.”
This objective in marriage is unattainable by mere human effort. It takes God’s involvement. It is a spiritual dynamic. That is why we are told two times to guard ourselves in our spirit. When we are in a healthy relationship with God He enables us to relate to our spouse as we ought.
When men who are believers say to me they want to get a divorce because they don’t love their wives anymore, I respond, “That’s not an option for you as a believer.” If they ask, “What do you mean?” I tell them, “You are commanded to love your wife even as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25). That’s sacrificial love. Ask God to restore your love for her and then do what you would if you felt love for her.
