Marriage is Hard

How the Divine Romance gives us hope

The Bible is a love story between God and His people and it’s honest about how marriage is hard. It’s a true reflection on how we often fail to love one another as we wish to be loved.

Love can die.

But love can be reborn.

Repentance and restoration can happen and Scripture tells this truth so that we can find the hope that light can break in on the darkness of our own love stories.

You may be in a dark and chaotic chapter in your love story. The Divine romance has been written in the Old and New Covenant to show us all that God has been there too.

When I counsel and pray with those who are in despair this story informs and upholds my hope. New life in love is possible, because The Lord has shown us the way through such troubles.

“I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. . . . Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense” (Jeremiah 3:8–10).

“But then I will win her back once again. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there. I will return her vineyards to her and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope. She will give herself to me there, as she did long ago when she was young, when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt. I will make you my wife forever, showing you righteousness and justice, unfailing love and compassion. I will be faithful to you and make you mine, and you will finally know me as the Lord.” -Hosea‬ ‭2‬:‭14‬-‭15‬, ‭19‬-‭20‬ ‭

“If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again?” (Jeremiah 3:1).

“When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens, if she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, that he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her away from his house.”-Deuteronomy 24:1

“Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am faithful,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will not be angry forever’” (Jeremiah 3:12).

“‘Return, faithless people,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I am your husband. I will choose you . . . and bring you to Zion” (Jeremiah 3:14).

The apostle Paul explains, “Did God reject his people? By no means! . . . God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. . . . At the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace. . . . Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! . . . And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again” (Romans 11:1–6, 11, 23).

“Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods” (Hosea 3:1).

“Listen, O heavens! Pay attention, earth! This is what the Lord says: “The children I raised and cared for have rebelled against me. Even an ox knows its owner, and a donkey recognizes its master’s care— but Israel doesn’t know its master. My people don’t recognize my care for them.” Oh, what a sinful nation they are— loaded down with a burden of guilt. They are evil people, corrupt children who have rejected the Lord. They have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.” -Isaiah‬ ‭1‬:‭2‬-‭4‬, ‭18‬ ‭

Your valley of trouble can become a doorway of hope.