Cincinnati Church of Christ: Good News You Can Use!
GOD AS YOUR SPOUSE
Quiet Time Notes
by Sarah Wiegman
“Take God for your spouse and walk with him continually, and you will not sin and will learn to love, and the things you must do will work out prosperly for you.”
St. John of Cross
I. Would I? Would You?
This morning I asked myself, what would I be like if I had a husband? How would I act? What would I do? How would I feel? Here are some of the questions that I asked myself:
- Would I talk to him in the morning?
- Would I make plans with him for dinner or later that night?
- Would I lie to him about what I was doing or what I was thinking?
- Would I swivel my head around when I saw a really cute guy walking by?
- Would I much rather read a book than go for a walk around the neighborhood?
- Would I share how I’m feeling?
- Would I only talk about MY feelings, MY interests, MY struggles and MY needs?
- Would I make time to listen to him?
- Would I trust him?
- Would I submit to him?
- Would I be embarrassed by him? Would I acknowledge that I had a husband?
- Would I think about him during the day?
- Would I let another woman or man talk smack about my man?
- Would I need to spend time with him or would e-mailing be enough?
- Would I care about his thoughts, his feelings, his dreams and his plans?
- Would I want to share in his vision or would I fight him on it because it wasn’t mine?
- Would I apologize when I was wrong?
- Would I seek advice about my marriage, when we were struggling or would I fear that people might think I was a bad wife because we had issues?
- Would I walk away from him when our lives got rough?
- Would I throw up my hands in frustration because I wasn’t personally happy in the relationship?
- Would I look around for other potential husbands while I was in the marriage?
- Would I moan constantly about the grass being greener somewhere else?
- Would I be happy just to be with him even if it wasn’t anything spectacular?
- Would I go to bed angry?
- Would I blame my husband for everything wrong in my life?
- Would I be fiercely protective of our alone time?
- Would I sacrifice anything to love and protect him?
II. MAYBE
Here are the conclusions I reached:
- Maybe God is saying, “You can’t even commit to me like that, let alone a mere man!”
- Maybe that’s why I’m not married!
- Maybe I’m expecting God to bring me a husband on a silver platter.
- Maybe the Shepard is not willing to sacrifice one of his most prized sheep to be my guinea pig, while I learn to live and love like Jesus!
- Maybe God is just simply waiting for me to practice and to put forth some effort?
- Maybe God wants me to stop whining about what I don’t have and to be grateful for what I do have?
- Maybe Just Maybe I don’t have a spouse because of ME, and not some universal plot to ruin my life!
- Maybe I should spend less time talking about my needs, wants, and desires and start listening to Jesus and his hopes, his plans and his desire for us to have a pure relationship.
III. DEFINITELY
These are the things I can change right now:
- Definitely I can quit complaining: Philippians 2:14-16
- Definitely I can think more about God and less about me: Colossians 3:1-3
- Definitely I can apologize and ask for forgiveness: 1 John 1:9
- Definitely I can get advice about my relationship with God: Prov. 12:15
- Definitely I can commit for the long haul and trust in God: Ps. 37: 4-6
- Definitely I can think about him all through the day: Psalm 63:6
- Definitely I can take a walk with him: Psalm 63:1
- Definitely I can try to live and love like Jesus: 1 Corinthians 13 and John 13:15
For better, for worse
For richer, for poorer
In sickness and health
I will be yours
And you'll always be here in my heart
To honor, to cherish
To care for, to say
This love will not perish
I'm yours everyday and forever
You'll be here in my heart
When the world is falling down
I will always be around
Though the tides may change
The winds may blow
I want you now to know
That I promise that I will love you
And I promise that I'll love you, too
Here's my heart
I give it away
On this our wedding day
On this our wedding day
On this our wedding day
On this our wedding day
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