My husband and I ran across these verses this morning as we were finishing up reading the Old Testament over the last few months. They are clear and strong:
And here is something else you do: you cover the altar of Yahweh with tears, with weeping and wailing, because he now refuses to consider the offering or to accept it from you.
And you ask, "Why?" Because Yahweh stands as witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have broken faith, even though she was your partner and your wife by covenant.
Did he not create a single being, having flesh and the breath of life? And what does this single being seek? God-given offspring! Have respect for your own life then, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.
For I hate divorce, says Yahweh, God
of Israel, and people concealing their cruelty under a cloak, says Yahweh Sabaoth. Have respect for your own life then, and do not break faith.
You have wearied Yahweh with your talk. You ask, "How have we wearied him?" When you say, "Any evil-doer is good as far as Yahweh is concerned; indeed he is delighted with them"; or when you say, "Where is the God of fair judgement now?" Malachi 2: 13-17
2 comments:
Does this mean, in your view, that I have become an evildoer through divorce, and as such, God cannot ever be delighted by me?
Can he ever delight in a repentant liar, homosexual or murderer? What might preclude God from delighting in a person, and how do we reconcile this with the promise that "nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus"? (Rom. 8:39)
More to the point, what if the divorce was not a frivolous or selfish one, but one in which the Christian was betrayed/violated by a spouse? Is this Christian divorcee still an evildoer?
I ask none of these questions with irony or cynicism. I'd really like to hear your thoughts.
God forgives anything when we are repentant. So of course I believe God delights in those who repent. All heaven rejoices in a sinner who turns from evil. The texts are from scripture... not my opinion. So evidently God really hates divorce.
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