Giving God The Burden
This will probably come as a surprise, but I’m not entirely convinced that it’s necessarily a bad thing to hear someone standing for marriage restoration say “I can’t do this anymore…the burden is just too much to carry.” My unexpected reply is “Good.” And that’s because when we get tired of the burden we MIGHT FINALLY “let it go” and GIVE it to God! The restoration of our marriages and the deliverance of our spouses is NOT our burden and it’s NOT our battle. That’s why the Bible tells us in so many places that our battle belongs to the Lord and why it tells us that if God is for us, who can be against us; that No wisdom, NO insight and NO plan can succeed against the Lord. And 1 Corinthians 7:12-16 makes it VERY clear that when our unbelieving spouses leave (and if they leave, they ARE unbelievers), we are supposed to LET THEM GO…and then LIVE IN PEACE. But if we’re holding onto marriage restoration as a burden, we have NOT let our spouses go, and we’re NOT living in peace. That’s because we still think there’s something we can do to make it happen, even though there’s NOTHING we can do to bring about the change in our spouses’ hearts and the restoration of our marriages! BUT the GOOD NEWS IS THAT GOD CAN AND WILL! And we know that based on Proverbs 21:1, which says The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.
ALL God wants US to do is focus totally on our walk and relationship with Him, because He promises in Matthew 6:33 that IF we seek Him and His righteousness FIRST, THEN HE WILL GIVE US EVERYTHING ELSE…AND Psalm 37:4 promises that IF WE DELIGHT IN HIM, HE WILL GIVE US THE DESIRES OF OUR HEARTS! And when we start focusing more on Him and NOT on our circumstances, just like when Peter walked on the water, we won’t even notice the burden of standing for marriage restoration, because it becomes almost unimportant in comparison to the wonder of an intimate love relationship with Jesus! And in John 14:15 Jesus said “If you love me, you will obey what I command. So standing for the restoration of our marriages HAS to be something we do in obedience to the Lord, because if we stand for ANY other reason, we won’t be able to stand for the duration, and in Matthew 11:30 Jesus promised For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” That’s why we have to find that place of knowing that God has ALREADY DONE IT, and now we’re just waiting for HIM to reveal the time and circumstances under which it will be manifested, as stated in an earlier SOF post, The Battle IS Already Won! That’s what faith is ALL about. We HAVE to take God at His word. He’s not a liar. Satan is the liar.
Many of the FAM Fellowship members seemed to be a lot more depressed and discouraged on New Years eve and day than Christmas. Perhaps that’s because that’s more of a couples’ time than Christmas, and maybe it is because the thought of standing for another year is very discouraging and painful. But the bottom line for ALL of us is that we have to decide whether we believe God and what He promises in the Bible or not. And if we don’t, we really should give up, because He can’t work on our behalf if we don’t believe in Him and trust Him, if we don’t have faith in His ability and/or willingness to restore our marriages and families. And that’s based on Matthew 13:58, which says And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
However, I am curious to know just what giving up on the Lord and the restoration of our marriages leaves as an option, because IF we know the Lord has asked and called us (any of us) to stand for our marriages, and we don’t, we’re being disobedient and we will not be happy with the consequences that brings into our lives. God has a plan and purpose for all of us, and if He’s called us to stand for our marriages, He’s not just going to let us walk away from that, and more than likely, everything else we try to MAKE happen, won’t work or turn out the way we want, hope or expect. So, in the end, we have to give our burdens and cares to the Lord, and remember that as long as we remain IN Him and Him IN us, we CAN do ALL things and bear MUCH fruit; it’s when we’re apart from Him that we can’t do it, just as John 15:5 says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. And how it must break our Lord’s heart when we won’t take Him at His awesome word and promise in 1 Peter 5:6-7, which says Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. So when the devil tries to overcome us with thoughts of discouragement, it’s VERY important to take those thoughts captive and make them obedient to the word, which reading and putting Philippians 4 in to practice makes possible. Then the Lord will be blessed and we will be encouraged as we stand in faith and obedience to the Lord for the restoration of our marriages and families!