Read
15You should be faithful
to your wife,
just as you take water
from your own well.
16And don't be like a stream
from which just any woman
may take a drink.
17Save yourself for your wife
and don't have sex
with other women.
18Be happy with the wife
you married
when you were young.
19She is beautiful and graceful,
just like a deer;
you should be attracted to her
and stay deeply in love.
20Don't go crazy over a woman
who is unfaithful
to her own husband!
Reflect
These verses are straightforward advice about marriage. They are a warning to remain faithful, to be content, to be happy, to “stay deeply in love.” Contrary to the modern day norm, the writer of this proverb seems to assume that all of these things are attainable, not matters of fate or fancy, but matters of choice and deliberate intention. And the key is faithfulness.
Faithfulness. Why does God insist upon it? Marriage is an institution meant to mirror our relationship with God and his relationship with us. He has designed it to reveal his own character to us and to those around us. The scripture is full of descriptions of God’s faithfulness. To design marriage without it would be to slander his own name. To live in a marriage without it would do no less.
These admonitions can be applied to every aspect of our lives. If we live according to them we not only bring honour to ourselves, but also to God.
Respond
Heavenly Father, thank you that you have given us such a clear picture of your love and faithfulness to us, through marriage. Help us to see it, to honour it, and to honour you in all we do. Amen.
Marcia Lee Laycock
Marcia Lee Laycock is an award-winning writer and sought-after speaker. Having lived a few kilometers from the Arctic Circle, and two degrees off the Equator, her writing draws from a rich field of experiences. Marcia was the winner of the Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone, and she now has four devotional books and a fantasy series in print, which have also garnered awards. Marcia lives in central Alberta with her pastor husband. They have three grown daughters and two huge Great Dane grand-puppies.