Marriage, God's Help to Man I

 STRENGTH FOR MY DAYS 
A Daily Devotional by Bishop David Bakare

Marriage, God's Help to Man I

Friday, 6 September

 

And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. Genesis 2:18

SCRIPTURE FOR TODAY: Genesis 2:18-24 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. 21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 

MORE LESSON: Exodus 4:24-26 And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him. 25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. 26 So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.

 

Every human being needs help. God intentionally made it so because every person embodies a dimension of God. In other words, everyone is created to reveal a dimension of God to the world. So, every human will at one point or the other need the help of others in order to live effectively. Paul the apostle asked for prayer. Some of you think the general overseer should not be prayed for because he's a big man and he has anointing; but the anointing is the reason why he needs prayers. Often he does certain things that are more than his capacity but by the help of the Lord. Marriage is God's provision for help. If you ever need help in life, look towards marriage because God uses marriage as His centre for help. The Lord created marriage to give help to mankind. There are several things God does through marriage that bring help.

God's help for man in marriage is multifaceted and they come in form of:

1. Companionship: Marriage is not first for child bearing. Please don't kill yourself because children have not come. They will come, but before they come don't die. Looking down on someone because children have not come is criminally unscriptural. Don't join them to run down yourself, give thanks in the midst of it. It is in the process of thanksgiving that God adds children to join you to give thanks. God does not add children to a family so that He can have more people to grumble. So if you are a grumbler you don't get children. Grumbling does not break barrenness because God does not want more people to grumble. When you are believing God for children and you grumble, you delay divine intervention/children coming because God is not going to increase grumblers. But if you give Him thanks, praise Him and celebrate Him, He will determine to give you children so that you can train more people to praise Him. So marriage was set up for help and the very first of that help is companionship.

Hence, the first purpose of marriage is not child bearing but togetherness. God said in Genesis 2:18, …It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. The first reason God created marriage is that the man and the woman will find help. Efficiency comes to the assignment of a man if the help provided in marriage is fully maximised. This is because spouses in a marriage complement each other's efforts. Remember that Eve was a suitable help for Adam. This is why it is essential to allow God lead to the man or woman who fits your assignment.

 

Prayer/Action

* Thank God for the union of Marriage.

* Pray that you will fulfil your God-ordained purposes for marriage.

* Pray that your union will be sweet and a model to others.

 

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER: In this new month, I am a candidate for divine greatness. I will succeed where others fail, in the redeeming name of Jesus.

 

TODAY’S FASTING FOCUS: Divine greatness; Psalm 71:21