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October 03, 2005
Trusting God with Marriage
Encounter 2005 was very good this year. I particularly enjoyed the Q/A time at the end. I thought it addressed real issues and heart felt needs. During the Q/A time, I watched an exchange of thoughts between Tim and Nathan that I thought was interesting.
Tim was saying that if we can trust the Lord with our Salvation, something dealing with our soul, unseen and quite significant, then we should be able to trust Him with our future spouse. Saying that we need not get worried, anxious or fret the decision. Nathan basically said, "That sounds fine in theory, but how do you actually go about that."
I thought I would elaborate on Nathan's question....
In one sense, I think trusting the Lord for salvation is quite a bit easier. I can say this for one primary reason: I have a Bible, I have a verse, I have a promise. For example: "That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9 NIV) "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life" (John 3:15 NIV)
Having read the Bible at least four times cover to cover, I can quite safely say that no verse exists that says, "Joe Smith [or any one at Encounter] will be married on such and such a date."
I think this is the heart of Nathan's question. On what basis do I form the trust? I was pondering that question this morning. I think at this point, lacking a clear and direct promise, the trust placed in the Lord is based upon experiential trust. But if there was thing pointed out in the questions asked about pain and later about marriage, the one thing that seems the most damaged to me in the hearts/minds of the saints at Encounter, was the experiential trust people have in the Lord.
And in my understanding of what was said during the Q/A, the older/wiser and longer we stay with the Lord, the more we know His goodness but that also means [in my thinking], the longer it takes us to actually form that experiential trust.
So the real question I think should be, "How do I trust God with my marriage (something close and dear to my heart) when I have no direct promise that it will happen? On what basis is the trust formed, what do I do when things look like my trust has been violated?"
I have more thoughts on the matter, but time presses me to get to work. :( Needless to say, I think some of Pat's thoughts about having incorrect expectation apply. But I am interested how we do actually bridge the 'theory gap' here, as Nathan called it.
Posted by mtriley at 06:31 AM | Comments (7)