Silas
Beloved of All
There is real pain and confusion in what you have described, and it is right to bring it before the Lord. What you are seeing in your neighborhood, the aggression and violence, the sense that disorder is spreading from house to house and that one family's breakdown is affecting many others, is a picture of what Scripture shows happens when people turn away from God's order.
The Bible uses the city of Babylon as a picture of that kind of confusion. When people in rebellion tried to make their own way to reach heaven, God let their language be confused so they could no longer understand one another, and they scattered. That has always been the pattern. God has established a clear and good order for life and for the home, but people bring confusion upon themselves when they insist on doing what is right in their own eyes. In the days when there was no king in Israel, everyone did what seemed right to himself, and the result was civil and religious confusion, violence and great sorrow. We see the same today when God's design for marriage and family is set aside.
You mentioned meddling in another house and the ruin that follows. Scripture warns that there is a strong tendency in us to meddle with things we have no business touching, and it is always to our own hurt. When a person meddles with wrong relationships, or with things that destroy the body and mind, or with strife that belongs to another household, he loses his treasure and his defenses are broken down. Love for neighbor does not mean intruding or controlling or repeating slander. In fact, a hypocrite destroys his neighbor with his mouth, and a tale bearer spreads secrets and strife, while understanding seeks peace. The multitude of voices and counselors can increase confusion. To love your neighbor as yourself, which Jesus said sums up our duty to one another along with loving God supremely, means to work no ill toward him, to not lie about him, steal from him, or seek to harm him, but to do for him the good you would want for yourself.
You are right to point to what Jesus taught about divorce. He said that Moses permitted divorce because of hardness of heart, but from the beginning it was not that way. God joined one man and one woman together in a lifelong covenant, and that union is not to be broken apart. Jesus said that to divorce for other reasons and then enter another union is to commit adultery. The law given through Moses spoke of a certificate of divorce when indecency was found, but that provision was because of sin, not because God desires divorce. Divorce always brings tragedy and disgrace and loss, because it tears apart what God intended to be whole.
The contrast you noted from Galatians is also true. The works of the flesh, which include envy, drunkenness, sexual immorality, malice, hatred and similar things, lead away from the kingdom of God. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Titus reminds us that we all were once foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hating and being hated. Only through Jesus Christ is there deliverance from that old life.
For those men and women you mentioned who are going through the pain of a broken marriage, and for those in dating relationships that have ended badly, we can pray for mercy and healing without asking God to bless what is outside His will. God's will for sexual union and for living together is within the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman. For those who are not married, the loving and holy path is to turn from sexual sin and to seek purity and, if God wills marriage, to pursue it in His way. For those who are married and suffering, the prayer is for repentance where there is hardness of heart, for protection where there is abuse and violence, for truth where there is deception and false imitation, and for reconciliation where it is possible in a way that honors God. Where reconciliation is not possible because of serious sin like sexual immorality or abandonment, the prayer is still for salvation, for healing, and for a life now lived in obedience to Christ.
Let us pray together. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ we ask You to rebuke the spirit of confusion, violence and torment that is troubling this neighborhood. Where there has been meddling, slander, and disorder that spreads from house to house, bring Your peace and Your truth. Protect those who are vulnerable to abuse and aggression, and bring to justice what is violent and destructive. Expose lies and false ties that pretend to be family, and bring clarity where there has been bewilderment and imitation and disorder. We ask for Your mercy on every man and woman and young person who is suffering the tragedy of divorce and broken relationships. Save them through faith in Jesus Christ alone, forgive sin, heal the ruin, and teach them to walk in the fruit of the Spirit and not in the works of the flesh. Establish Your order in homes, that husbands and wives would love You first and love one another faithfully, and that neighbors would love one another by doing no harm and speaking truth. Give wisdom to know what not to meddle with, and strength to keep boundaries that are holy and good. We trust that You will one day throw down all confusion completely, and we ask for Your help to live in Your love and law even now. Amen.
The Bible uses the city of Babylon as a picture of that kind of confusion. When people in rebellion tried to make their own way to reach heaven, God let their language be confused so they could no longer understand one another, and they scattered. That has always been the pattern. God has established a clear and good order for life and for the home, but people bring confusion upon themselves when they insist on doing what is right in their own eyes. In the days when there was no king in Israel, everyone did what seemed right to himself, and the result was civil and religious confusion, violence and great sorrow. We see the same today when God's design for marriage and family is set aside.
You mentioned meddling in another house and the ruin that follows. Scripture warns that there is a strong tendency in us to meddle with things we have no business touching, and it is always to our own hurt. When a person meddles with wrong relationships, or with things that destroy the body and mind, or with strife that belongs to another household, he loses his treasure and his defenses are broken down. Love for neighbor does not mean intruding or controlling or repeating slander. In fact, a hypocrite destroys his neighbor with his mouth, and a tale bearer spreads secrets and strife, while understanding seeks peace. The multitude of voices and counselors can increase confusion. To love your neighbor as yourself, which Jesus said sums up our duty to one another along with loving God supremely, means to work no ill toward him, to not lie about him, steal from him, or seek to harm him, but to do for him the good you would want for yourself.
You are right to point to what Jesus taught about divorce. He said that Moses permitted divorce because of hardness of heart, but from the beginning it was not that way. God joined one man and one woman together in a lifelong covenant, and that union is not to be broken apart. Jesus said that to divorce for other reasons and then enter another union is to commit adultery. The law given through Moses spoke of a certificate of divorce when indecency was found, but that provision was because of sin, not because God desires divorce. Divorce always brings tragedy and disgrace and loss, because it tears apart what God intended to be whole.
The contrast you noted from Galatians is also true. The works of the flesh, which include envy, drunkenness, sexual immorality, malice, hatred and similar things, lead away from the kingdom of God. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Titus reminds us that we all were once foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hating and being hated. Only through Jesus Christ is there deliverance from that old life.
For those men and women you mentioned who are going through the pain of a broken marriage, and for those in dating relationships that have ended badly, we can pray for mercy and healing without asking God to bless what is outside His will. God's will for sexual union and for living together is within the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman. For those who are not married, the loving and holy path is to turn from sexual sin and to seek purity and, if God wills marriage, to pursue it in His way. For those who are married and suffering, the prayer is for repentance where there is hardness of heart, for protection where there is abuse and violence, for truth where there is deception and false imitation, and for reconciliation where it is possible in a way that honors God. Where reconciliation is not possible because of serious sin like sexual immorality or abandonment, the prayer is still for salvation, for healing, and for a life now lived in obedience to Christ.
Let us pray together. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ we ask You to rebuke the spirit of confusion, violence and torment that is troubling this neighborhood. Where there has been meddling, slander, and disorder that spreads from house to house, bring Your peace and Your truth. Protect those who are vulnerable to abuse and aggression, and bring to justice what is violent and destructive. Expose lies and false ties that pretend to be family, and bring clarity where there has been bewilderment and imitation and disorder. We ask for Your mercy on every man and woman and young person who is suffering the tragedy of divorce and broken relationships. Save them through faith in Jesus Christ alone, forgive sin, heal the ruin, and teach them to walk in the fruit of the Spirit and not in the works of the flesh. Establish Your order in homes, that husbands and wives would love You first and love one another faithfully, and that neighbors would love one another by doing no harm and speaking truth. Give wisdom to know what not to meddle with, and strength to keep boundaries that are holy and good. We trust that You will one day throw down all confusion completely, and we ask for Your help to live in Your love and law even now. Amen.
