03.02. CHAPTER 02 - GOD IS YOUR HUSBAND
CHAPTER 02 - GOD IS YOUR HUSBAND
“Your Husband is your Maker, Whose Name is the Lord of Hosts. Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel who is called, the God of all the earth (Isaiah 54:5). A good friend of mine suddenly lost her husband in a tragic accident. He had not even wished his young wife good-bye. His life was snuffed out by the cruel mistake of a drunken driver who ran him over on the road. And this happened as he was on his way to a prayer-meeting.
Another friend of mine lost her husband after a very brief illness. That unwelcome visitor called “Death” comes uninvited to every home. Only the bereaved one can understand the gnawing pain and the loneliness that death brings. Your thoughts are full of memories of your loved one and you keep wishing that you could re-live those happy days with him again. But it is not to be. Tears that flow day after day and torrents of weeping at night are the only relief that you get from your overwhelming grief. The Bible says that our Lord makes a note of all our tears : “You have seen me tossing and turning through the night. You have collected all my tears and preserved them in your bottle! You have recorded every one of my tears in Your book” (Psalms 56:8 -Living).
One precious child of God read the following article the very month her young husband went to be with the Lord. When I met her, I saw how she had found great comfort in God through it:
“There is perhaps today some woman who a year ago or it may be a few months or weeks or possibly a few days ago had by her side a man so strong and wise that she was freed from all sense of responsibility and care, for all the burdens were upon him. How bright and happy were the days of his companionship. But the dark day came when that loved one was taken away, and how lonely and empty and barren and full of burden and care is life today. Listen woman, there is One who walks right by your side today who is far wiser and stronger and more loving and more able to guide and help than the wisest and strongest and most loving husband that ever lived. He is ready to bear all the burdens and responsibilities of life for you. Yes ready to do far more. Ready to come and dwell in your heart and fill every nook and corner of your empty and aching heart and thus banish all the loneliness and heartache for ever.” (A.W.Tozer)
Another woman could not live anymore with her alcoholic husband and felt she had come to the limits of patience. All her friends suggested that she separate from him. She was at her wits end. She had nowhere to turn and she did not know how she would ever be able to cope all by herself. Are you suffering something like that? Is your loneliness arising from a separation from your husband? Are you haunted with memories that bring regret and remorse? Do you find yourself wishing that those angry outbursts had never occurred?
Even if you are a single parent facing tangled, complex situations because of your children and surrounded by unhelpful relatives, nothing is too difficult for the Lord.
He will enter into your life and undo every knot that Satan has tied and solve every problem - if you will only yield your all- unreservedly to Him. So stop weeping. Just hand over the broken fragments of your life to Him. He is the Master-Potter who can remake every broken vessel. We are but clay in the Potter’s Hands! (Jeremiah 18:6). Are you facing the cold, chilly blast of another woman who has entered your husband’s life? The Lord can help you to forgive both of them. Your life need not be blighted even by that.
Don’t shed tears of anger. The Lord will make up for the loss of your earthly partner. He can even change your partner’s heart and turn it towards you once again. He is a God Who does wonders.
Don’t plan something in hatred. Instead, ask God to fill your heart with His love and to give you grace to speak words of love to your husband, instead of bitter words. God is near those who are crushed in spirit.
Perhaps you longed to be married, but nothing has worked out for you as yet. Find your comfort in Jesus alone. The Father has already given us the best Helper - the Holy Spirit (John 14:16). He will not leave us comfortless.
Perhaps you are disturbed each time you hear the news that someone is getting married. You don’t feel like congratulating her. Instead you feel like weeping in your room. Jesus is near you and feels your pain. The dark nights of weeping covered up by outward tranquillity in the daytime, are all known to Him. He does not stand aloof when His beloved child goes through sorrow. His heart bled for us. He will reach down and touch you and pour His healing balm into your heart and your sorrow will become bearable. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. And your faithfulness in this trial will finally bring you an eternal weight of glory.
I have heard the testimonies of some widows whose husbands were martyred for the Lord. What a note of victory there was in their words!
It amazed me!
How could they forgive the ones who killed their husbands? The Master who prayed for those who crucified Him saying, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”, alone can help us.
I met a poor, young widow once, whose husband had been axed to death in North India for preaching the gospel. I was moved immensely as I heard her testimony. Standing there with her little children, she said that her prayer was that in the very place where her husband’s blood was shed, a church should be born. Indeed, she was a triumphant, weeping sister. The blood of Jesus cries out for mercy, unlike the blood of Abel that cried for vengeance. A true child of God can live as the Lord taught us to live in the sermon on the mount (Matthew 5:1-48, Matthew 6:1-34, and Matthew 7:1-29).
God is the God of the widows and fatherless.
Jesus taught a parable on prayer where He likened us to a widow who went to an unjust judge for protection against her adversary. She persisted and thus got what she wanted.
Jesus once publicly appreciated a widow who offered two mites - what others considered as so little - to God. But she gave from her poverty and it cost her, her whole livelihood to make that offering.
There we learn that Jesus takes note of every little sacrifice that we make for Him – and especially the sacrifices that we make for Him through grief and tears. The Bible says that a godly widow will “wash the feet of the saints” (1 Timothy 5:10) – or in other words she will refresh the hearts of God’s people by her service. A widow can do that only if she has first laid her own burdens, sorrows and tears at the feet of the Lord.