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Bible Questions and Spiritual Discussion
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Divorce and The Bible
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As a Christian I know that saving the marriage is our first concern. But once someone is divorced, what advice do you have on counseling a Christian? On what passages have you found helpful? How do you help someone who is depressed because they feel God is no longer with them since He hates divorce?
I know what I have learned and where I find comfort and from where I can share show them God's love and healing after Divorce. I would really appreciate other insights and what other have learned and where in the bible they regain their strenght.
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Regina 08/08/2011 08:36 |
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Ray
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08/09/2011 12:04 |
Regina,
I'm no counselor, but I think you speak about divorce in a very heavy way. Not that it is not troublesome, but I think you speak of it as if those you fellowship with consider it unpardonable. Jesus is all about our hearts, restoring us, building us up. He understands the mess we live in and the mess into which we fall. Most believers in the U. S. think this journey is all about "good" behavior and outside of good behavior is divorce. Good behavior is not the point. Oneness with God is the point and good behavior comes from that place. What does God want to do inside our hearts today to repair the damage of yesterday so we can glorify Him tomorrow.
What scripture is helpful? Scripture that leads a person to giving over their past to Him so that he can heal the heart.
Chambers, August 21st:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit." Matthew 5:3
The New Testament notices things which from our standards do not seem to count. "Blessed are the poor in spirit," literally - Blessed are the paupers - an exceedingly commonplace thing! The preaching of to-day is apt to emphasize strength of will, beauty of character - the things that are easily noticed. The phrase we hear so often, Decide for Christ, is an emphasis on something Our Lord never trusted. He never asks us to decide for Him, but to yield to Him - a very different thing. At the basis of Jesus Christ's Kingdom is the unaffected loveliness of the commonplace. The thing I am blessed in is my poverty. If I know I have no strength of will, no nobility of disposition, then Jesus says - Blessed are you, because it is through this poverty that I enter His Kingdom. I cannot enter His Kingdom as a good man or woman, I can only enter it as a complete pauper.
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Ray
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08/09/2011 12:22 |
Jesus is about restoring us. Eldredge wrote:
Look at the life of Jesus. Notice what he did. When Jesus touched the blind, they could see; all the beauty of the world opened before them. When he touched the deaf, they were able to hear; for the first time in their lives they heard laughter and music and their children's voices. He touched the lame, and they jumped to their feet and began to dance. And he called the dead back to life and gave them to their families.
Do you see? Wherever humanity was broken, Jesus restored it. He is giving us an illustration here, and there, and there again. The coming of the kingdom of God restores the world he made.
God has been whispering this secret to us through creation itself, every year, at springtime, ever since we left the Garden. Sure, winter has its certain set of joys. The wonder of snowfall at midnight, the rush of a sled down a hill, the magic of the holidays. But if winter ever came for good and never left, we would be desolate. Every tree leafless, every flower gone, the grasses on the hillsides dry and brittle. The world forever cold, silent, bleak.
After months and months of winter, I long for the return of summer. Sunshine, warmth, color, and the long days of adventure together. The garden blossoms in all its beauty. The meadows soft and green. Vacation. Holiday. Isn't this what we most deeply long for? To leave the winter of the world behind, what Shakespeare called "the winter of our discontent," and find ourselves suddenly in the open meadows of summer?
If we listen, we will discover something of tremendous joy and wonder. The restoration of the world played out before us each spring and summer is precisely what God is promising us about our lives. Every miracle Jesus ever did was pointing to this Restoration, the day he makes all things new.
(Epic, 82-83)
I love Isaiah 61 on what the Lord is about, restoration:
The Year of the LORD’s Favor
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,[a]
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.
4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.
5 Strangers will shepherd your flocks;
foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.
6 And you will be called priests of the LORD,
you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations,
and in their riches you will boast.
7 Instead of your shame
you will receive a double portion,
and instead of disgrace
you will rejoice in your inheritance.
And so you will inherit a double portion in your land,
and everlasting joy will be yours.
8 “For I, the LORD, love justice;
I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
In my faithfulness I will reward my people
and make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their descendants will be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a people the LORD has blessed.”
10 I delight greatly in the LORD;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness
and praise spring up before all nations.
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Regina
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08/10/2011 16:02 |
Thank you for your input. I actualy agree with you! I am preparing to lead a Divorce Support group at church and I wanted some assurance that I was not the only person who feels this way. We can never be seperated from our Father, our relationship with Him can be bruised a little but we are never seperated from Him and His love. Thank you and pray I am able to His will in this group.
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Ray
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08/10/2011 19:41 |
I am praying. Be filled with His Spirit!
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Helga
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08/10/2011 23:16 |
Ray thank you for the encouraging words
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John (Yuahan) smith
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08/18/2011 14:34 |
Here is a link that will help you and give you the support you need. Keep us updated. I have been close to divorce several times when we went through bankruptzy.
http://www.walkingthechristianlife.com/
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