Grinning from ear to ear like the Cheshire Cat, a co-worker told me this gag: at two o'clock in the morning a woman is awakened by a phone call. “How should I know what is going on at the beach,” she yells into the receiver and slams the phone down. Her now wide-awake husband asks, “Who was that?” “Just some woman who wanted to know if the coast is clear.” I couldn't help laughing along with my co-worker. That story was good for a chuckle, but it is also sobering because it shows us that unfaithfulness is so common it has become a joke.
We live in a disposable world: disposable diapers, disposable dishes, disposable friendships, disposable marriages. There seems to be no love we can count on. Marriage used to be for life--until death do us part. But now it’s often as long as we both shall love and that can be a very short time. Even when we water down the marriage vows, few people keep them. Where are the husbands and wives who are true to each other?
I was fortunate to have parents who had an extraordinary marriage. Extraordinary because they never had tough times? Of course not! Extraordinary because they had no arguments? No way! Extraordinary because they never irritated each other? Are you kidding? My parents' marriage was special because while so many of their peers were traveling the road of divorce, my parents went down the path of faithfulness. For over 47 years they were faithful to each other. Once when discussing the subject of marriage with my Dad, who was both an accountant and a lawyer, he gave me a wise piece of advice. “Never sign a prenuptial agreement,” he advised. “It is planning to fail before you begin. The only way for a marriage to succeed is to have 100% commitment to seeing it through to the end.”
According to the Bible, marriage is supposed to be a covenant, a binding agreement, a picture of Christ and the church. God has made a covenant with us. It was a no-escape clause, no prenuptial agreement between God and his people. He has promised to love and cherish us forever. And He is faithful to his word. He is loyal to you!
God first made a covenant with Abram (Abraham) who is our forefather in the faith. As you read the story of God establishing his covenant with Abram, consider the following questions:
- What did God promise Abram?
- How did Abram respond to God’s promises?
Then the LORD said to him, "No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own to inherit everything I am giving you." Then the LORD brought Abram outside beneath the night sky and told him, "Look up into the heavens and count the stars if you can. Your descendants will be like that--too many to count! And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD declared him righteous because of his faith. Then the LORD told him, "I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land." But Abram replied, "O Sovereign LORD, how can I be sure that you will give it to me?" Then the LORD told him, "Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." Abram took all these and killed them. He cut each one down the middle and laid the halves side by side. He did not, however, divide the birds in half. Some vultures came down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away. That evening, as the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep….As the sun went down and it became dark, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses. So the LORD made a covenant with Abram that day and said, "I have given this land to your descendants… (Genesis 15:4-12, 17-18, NLT)
God promised the childless Abram an heir and so many direct descendants that they would be impossible to count. This promise was a pretty unbelievable pledge since Abram was well up in his 80’s at the time and his wife Sara was no spring chicken either. But Abram believed that God was able to make the impossible possible. God was pleased with Abram's response of faith, so He committed Himself to keeping His promise by entering into a covenant with Abram.
In the ancient world, people used a ritual like the one described in Genesis to seal their covenants. As the parties to the agreement passed through the line of bisected animal carcasses, they were in effect saying, "May I be hacked in two, if I ever break this covenant." Usually, covenants were equal partnerships, but the covenant between God and Abraham was one sided. Abraham slept through the whole ceremony. Only God (as represented by the smoking fire-pot and a flaming torch) passed through the animals. He alone pledged His life to keep the covenant.
The Hebrew word for covenant love is hesed: the consistent, ever-faithful, relentless, constantly-pursuing, lavish, extravagant, unrestrained, furious love of our Father God! Hesed is strength, steadfastness, love---the loyal love between partners in a covenant relationship. Over and over again God promises His loyal love to us:
Know this: GOD, your God, is God indeed, a God you can depend upon. He keeps His covenant of loyal love with those who love Him and observe His commandments for a thousand generations. (Deuteronomy 7:9, MSG)
O GOD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in the skies above or on the earth below who unswervingly keeps covenant with His servants and relentlessly loves them as they sincerely live in obedience to Your way. (1 Kings 8:23, MSG)
“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet My unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor My covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you. (Isaiah 54:10, NIV)
In the ultimate expression of this loyal love, Jesus pledged His life for us in a new covenant. On the night before his death He joined his disciples in celebrating the Passover. After this last supper together, “…He took another cup of wine and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant between God and His people—an agreement confirmed with My blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.’” (Luke 22:20, NLT) Jesus demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is always true to us.
Learning the Lesson
Take a moment to thank God for His loyal love for you. Evaluate your response to His love by asking yourself these questions:
- Since God is always faithful to you, how can you show you are faithful to Him?
- Why is keeping your promises an important part of being a Christ-follower?
- Given that God takes covenants so seriously, what do you think He expects of you in keeping your marriage vows?
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