Skip to main content

The Force of Divorce (part 2)

The force of divorce is a violent wind that rips and tears through families much like a hurricane, destroying homes and cities, leaving its survivors deeply scarred and changed forever. The force of divorce is an unforgiving and unmerciful god of destruction that we created because we are fallen, broken, messed up individuals. If marriage is a reflection of God’s perfect love and intimacy, divorce is a cracked mirror that reflects our depravity and hatred for one another; symbolizing our desire to be separated, dissolved, and disconnected from true love.

The force of divorce paralyzes our spirits and undermines our hope to find true intimacy. It spits in the face of family, kicking our children in the stomach. God hates divorce. It has been labeled a necessary evil in a society that mocks the institution of holy matrimony. Even the Bible documents its dark legacy. Some may suggest that divorce is acceptable because it was included in the Mosiac Law (Deut. 24:1-4). But with a bit more depth of understanding, we discover that Moses permitted divorce, not because God had no problem with it, but because the hearts of His people were so hardened (Matt 19:8). To me, divorce is like having a gun in the home. You hope you never have to use it, but you feel more secure in the darkness knowing it’s there when you need it. Even if that security may be a false one, for like a thief in the night, divorce snatches away more than our material possessions, but it robs us of our vision of intimacy and our willingness to trust our hearts in the hands of another flawed individual. We’re guarded, defensive, emotionally persecuted and deeply wounded. Heaven help the next person who comes along and attempts to love to us, even if that next person is God.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 19: Write in Someone Else’s Voice

The Coward The boy’s voice awakened the man.   He found shelter in the abandoned school, in what was once, his school, his office.   Eleven, twelve, and thirteen year old students once ran down those halls, hurrying to their classes, hurrying to his English class. Now since the incident, no children survived that massacre.   That thought made the man shake with fear until he drifted off to sleep.   So when the man heard the boy’s voice screaming “Help Me!, Please Help Me!”   it shook the man from his sleep.   The man laid still.   His heart pounded as he waited to hear boy again.   “Help me! Please Somebody!” The man heard the boy loud and clear.   He could not pretend it was some animal or dream.   He knew it was a boy. And it paralyzed him.   The man clutched his knees to his chest and tucked his chin.   He took slow deep breaths, silent breaths, hoping the boy would believe he was on his own, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 18: Waiting

(unedited) Like many of you, I am not a huge fan of waiting.   There’s such a negative perception to waiting. As a society, we hate it, don’t we?   We hate it so much that companies know how to sell us their products.   Just tell us that it’s fast.   Fast food, fast delivery, fast internet service entices us.   Instant is another temptation.   Instant cash, instant coffee, Instagram! Okay, not quite the same but you know what I’m saying, right?   We complain about being hurried, but we gravitate toward the fast lane.   Passing someone is a lot more rewarding that keeping pace in the slow lane. I get it. Guilty as charged, ya know.   Patience, on the other hand, is a discipline. In my brief experience in the military, I was taught patience.   Most of the time it was in a twisted sort of way, like “hurry up and wait”.   Think about that for a moment.   You are given the emergency of ten seconds to be som...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Force of Divorce (part 1)

I don’t think we truly understand what divorce is and why God hates it. For example, if I gave you the Merriam Webster’s definition of divorce, the action or instance of legally dissolving a marriage , more than likely you'll find that definition insufficient. If you are divorced or your parents are divorced, you know that definition lacks depth and substance. It’s like a survivor of a devastating hurricane describing his experience as “I witnessed a tropical cyclone with winds of 156 mph that was accompanied by heavy rain thunder and lightning.” You know that surviving a category 5 hurricane is bit more involved than announcing a weather report. (Ask anyone who survived Hurricane Katrina.) And yet every survivor’s story is unique and personal. I especially believe we don’t get what divorce does to our children. I’m not saying that I completely understand it either. I’ve never been divorced, (not even close), but I do know how it affected me as a kid. ...
6 comments
Read more