If we ask God to bless us in a certain area, and we haven’t seen any movement whatsoever, are we to surmise that God didn’t hear us the first time we prayed, or is He just not ready for us to have what we asked for? Someone posed these questions to me the other day. At first I was hesitant to respond immediately, because people are used to hearing the same answers to questions like these. We’re told “You need to keep the faith!” or “You need to be more patient…” And let’s not forget, “Sometimes God tells us ‘NO!’ and we need to accept it!” That’s the one I like least. The last thing any Christian would want to do is discourage someone from continuing to trust the mighty power of God. Proverbs 27:17(NLT) tells us, “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” So, we very definitely should encourage each other as single Christians, but as some of us continue to wade through what can seem like a molasses of loneliness, how do we give answers that will bring real and lasting comfort?

Marriage is the most important decision any human-being can make in their lives outside of receiving our precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is not a simple thing or something we should ever take lightly, and the majority of us have made this mistake. Because we have not placed marriage in its proper spiritual context, our desire for it loses the Christ-element that God requires. It can be challenging to communicate this in a simple explanation.

It is beyond crucial that we make the right decision regarding marriage, and Heavenly Father makes this very clear. A critical aspect to marriage that we forget or overlook is the truth that it is God’s institution, and He set the standard for it. Jesus Christ tells us about this standard in Matthew 19, when Pharisees, trying to test him, asked if it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason. He told them that God made human-beings male and female; because of this, a man will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.

This is God’s standard, not ours, and the implications are so deeply and spiritually impactful that we would be shocked to know how much. We forget that marriage is a covenant in which the partners are ordained by God long before they are born. Yet, many of us chose to marry someone that isn’t the person Heavenly Father ordained to be with us. We do the choosing, have a ceremony, and then ask God to bless something He never ordained. That’s not working out too well for a whole lot of folks.

The reason why this is so important to get right is because of what Jesus Christ says in verse 6(NLT), “Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.” These are the words of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. He said “LET NO ONE separate a union that God has joined together. Can you imagine the price one pays for separating what God has put together?

Jesus Christ said that adultery is the only grounds recognized by Heavenly Father by which divorce is an option. So, we can see that marriage in Heavenly Father’s eyes is very serious business, and as singles looking to partner, we should only desire the person God desires for us. Many singles don’t have this mind-and-heart-set, and this is why many marital unions today are not put together by God. Sometimes we see individuals that are just depleted in every way from an unhappy marriage, because they married someone that God didn’t want them to marry.

You’ve probably heard a dear sister say, “I’ve been asking God to bless me with a husband, and for whatever reason, I can’t get a man to even look my way. It must be that God isn’t ready to bless me yet, because I don’t believe it’s me.”  I’ve heard this many times, and each time it tugs at my heart, because I know the emotional struggle that comes with being single longer than you’d like. But sisters, we must be spiritually anchored in Christ to be ready to partner.

God knows our hearts. In Deuteronomy 11:22(NLT), Moses told God’s people, “Be careful to obey all these commands I am giving you.  Show love to the Lord your God by walking in His ways and holding tightly to Him.” This is the heart that God is waiting on us to develop. He has watched to see if we will wait for the man that He has ordained, or if we will choose someone without getting God’s stamp of approval. Many of us have not proved our faithfulness in this area. We’ve sinned against our body-temples with men who were not ordained to be our covenant partners, and we never truly repented for this sin.

Our Heavenly Father loves us so much. He gave us His Word, the example of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the indwelling Holy Spirit, so that we can have a relationship with Him that meets His standard. When it does, all the other relationships we have will flow out of a well of love so tremendous that blessings chase us down. Marriage is not necessary to live this kind of blessed existence, but if we desire it, we must walk in the way of God’s Word and hold tightly to Him, so that our future marital union is an ordained and blessed one. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“A Union Ordained and Blessed by God” written by Kim Times, edited by Reverend Fran Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2018.  All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.