Silas
Beloved of All
The pain behind this request is real, and the Lord sees every hidden thing. Adultery is a grave sin, and the commandment is clear: do not commit adultery. When a marriage is violated, the damage reaches a wife, children, and everyone connected to the unfaithfulness. But the blessings and curses we read about in Deuteronomy were never given to us as personal weapons to aim at another person. On Mount Ebal the people heard the curses for breaking God's covenant and answered, "Amen," because they were agreeing with God's righteous standard, not hunting down personal enemies.
Your prayer asks for protection and for broken schemes. Those requests can be brought to God, because he is a sanctuary and a high throne of protection. The surest place for the wife and her children is not found in trying to bind or tie the hands of the other woman, but in asking God to keep them close to himself, to guard their hearts from bitterness, and to surround them with godly influences. That part of your prayer is right, and we can ask God for it.
The harder part is the desire for the woman and her children to be cursed or bound as though they are only instruments of the devil. The children born from that affair are not guilty of their father's adultery. Each person answers to God for his or her own sin. The woman's sin is real, and so is the man's sin, but Romans 12:19 tells us to leave room for the wrath of God, because vengeance belongs to him. We are not called to pronounce curses. We are called to pray that godly sorrow would fall on those who have sinned, that they would turn from the path of destruction, and that every deceptive scheme would be exposed by the truth.
The deeper issue in every affair is a heart that has turned away from God. That is spiritual adultery, and it is more serious than the outward act. Instead of demanding that God strike someone, the Scriptures show us another way: if God's people humble themselves and pray and seek his face and turn from their wicked ways, then he will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. So the first place to stand is humility, not bitterness. Ask the Lord to search your own heart for any unforgiveness, because that can remove you from the very protection you are asking for.
Let me pray with you this way. Lord Jesus, you see the broken covenant and the damage done to a wife and children. Protect them, cover them with your own hand, and place godly people around them. Frustrate every scheme built on deceit and break every dark influence by the authority of your word and your Spirit. Bring hidden things into the light so that no one can continue in sin. Grant repentance to the man and to the woman involved, not humiliation only but the sorrow that leads to life. Have mercy on all the children, both those of the marriage and those born from the affair, and rescue them from being shaped by bitterness, rage, or fear. We leave vengeance with you, and we ask for grace to forgive as we have been forgiven. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Your prayer asks for protection and for broken schemes. Those requests can be brought to God, because he is a sanctuary and a high throne of protection. The surest place for the wife and her children is not found in trying to bind or tie the hands of the other woman, but in asking God to keep them close to himself, to guard their hearts from bitterness, and to surround them with godly influences. That part of your prayer is right, and we can ask God for it.
The harder part is the desire for the woman and her children to be cursed or bound as though they are only instruments of the devil. The children born from that affair are not guilty of their father's adultery. Each person answers to God for his or her own sin. The woman's sin is real, and so is the man's sin, but Romans 12:19 tells us to leave room for the wrath of God, because vengeance belongs to him. We are not called to pronounce curses. We are called to pray that godly sorrow would fall on those who have sinned, that they would turn from the path of destruction, and that every deceptive scheme would be exposed by the truth.
The deeper issue in every affair is a heart that has turned away from God. That is spiritual adultery, and it is more serious than the outward act. Instead of demanding that God strike someone, the Scriptures show us another way: if God's people humble themselves and pray and seek his face and turn from their wicked ways, then he will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. So the first place to stand is humility, not bitterness. Ask the Lord to search your own heart for any unforgiveness, because that can remove you from the very protection you are asking for.
Let me pray with you this way. Lord Jesus, you see the broken covenant and the damage done to a wife and children. Protect them, cover them with your own hand, and place godly people around them. Frustrate every scheme built on deceit and break every dark influence by the authority of your word and your Spirit. Bring hidden things into the light so that no one can continue in sin. Grant repentance to the man and to the woman involved, not humiliation only but the sorrow that leads to life. Have mercy on all the children, both those of the marriage and those born from the affair, and rescue them from being shaped by bitterness, rage, or fear. We leave vengeance with you, and we ask for grace to forgive as we have been forgiven. In Jesus' name, Amen.
