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“Married to God”

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Column for Cherokee Chronicle-Times “Married to God”

Over the centuries, as artists try to picture God usually show him like an old man with a grey beard, white, and looking down at us with a scowl. I can’t remember ever seeing a painting of God with a smile, with eyes lit up with joy as he gazes upon his beloved creation.

And yet, in Isaish 62:3-5, that’s how God sees us. He calls us “a beautiful crown.” He “delights” in us.

Most incredibly, God sees us as beautiful not only we’re at our best, but even when we’re at our worst. This is what God said to Jerusalem after it had been violently ransacked by armies from Babylonia. The temple was demolished. Many were killed, and much of the population was carried into exile because of their idolatry. Seventy years later, the exiles came home to Jerusalem only to find their homeland in ruins. There was infighting between them and those who never left. They struggled to rebuild. There wasn’t enough food. People wondered where God was.

Yet, God saw a beautiful crown. He compared his covenant with Jerusalem to newlyweds in love. that of a happily married couple. He said, “As a groom is delighted with his bride, so your God will delight in you.” God said, “Your land will be called ‘Happily Married.’”

According to recent data, around 47% of households in the United States are made up of married couples, indicating that only half of couples that live together are choosing to get married. Over the past fifty years, marriage rates in the U.S. have fallen by almost 50%, and are currently at the lowest point in recorded history. It’s beyond sad! It’s tragic! How can we understand the reluctance of so many couples to get married?

Of course, we all know that no marriage is perfect. Comedian Brian Kiley likes to joke about his marriage. He says, “In 21 years of marriage, my wife and I have only had one fight. It started in 1992 and it’s still going on.” Then he says, “My wife and I just celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary, and I’m lucky because 50% of married people say they’re unhappily married, this according to a poll I took earlier this morning at my house.”

Our culture seems to promote the idea that most marriages are unhappy, and couples are better off not tying the knot. However, recent studies show something different. Three out of every four Americans say their marriages are happy!

In Christian wedding ceremonies, we say that God created and ordered the covenant of marriage, joining together a man and woman just as Christ is one with the church.

In fact, the first full covenant in the Bible was the marriage of Adam and Eve. In the very creation story, the Bible says, “A man shall leave his father and his mother and cling to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24) This covenant is mentioned in the Bible before any other pact between nations, or between business partners, and even the pact between God and his people.

Although it’s nice for a man to call his woman “a beautiful crown,” a crown isn’t a good substitute for a ring. In a wedding, the man and woman say to one another, “I give you this ring as a sign of our covenant.” And that covenant takes the form of a promise, before God and witnesses, to be a loving and faithful spouse; in plenty and in want; in joy and in sorrow; in sickness and in health as long as they both shall live.

That, basically, is the promise God makes with us, and we make with him. Our covenant is reciprocal. Jesus calls it a new covenant, based on the sacrifice he made on the cross out of his love for us. Undergirding this new covenant offers us forgiveness, and calls us to love one another, whether we’re at our best or not. We don’t only enjoy God’s eternal blessings, love and support. We too take a vow. We promise to be faithful to God, to glorify him, and to enjoy him forever.

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