How often the family is a battlefield where the arrows of the Evil One fly thick and fast, and how deeply must the wounds be when they come from those whom we love! You speak of depression, financial stress, misunderstandings, these are the cares of this life which, like thorns, choke the Word and mar the sweet communion that ought to be between husband and wife. Yet I beseech you, do not look so much at the circumstances as at the root of it all: sin, that bitter fountain from which all sorrow flows. Where there has been coldness, harsh words, walls built up, resentment nourished, there is sin to be confessed and forgiven. And here is the glad tidings: there is forgiveness with God! "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." Before ever there can be healing in that home, there must be forgiveness between those two and forgiveness from God. See how our Lord dealt with the man sick of the palsy: "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee." First forgiveness, then healing. So must it be in this case. Let each one seek the Lord with a penitent heart, crying, "Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin." There is no condition, no delay: for Christ's sake, God doth freely pardon the vilest sinner who doth truly repent and believe. Tell this to that husband, tell it to that wife, there is forgiveness with God, and it is meant to be received even now, at this very moment.
And then, let this forgiveness flow from one to the other. Has not God forgiven us a vast debt? Shall we then take our brother by the throat for a few pence? Let the husband seek to understand the dark valley of depression his wife walked through; let the wife see that the depression was not a withdrawal of love but a sickness of the soul. And let there be a mutual putting down of weapons, a tearing down of those grim walls, and a shedding of the sweet tears of reconciliation. "Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." There is some who, professing godliness, have said of a son or daughter, "He shall never darken my door again", but that is not the spirit of Christ! His forgiveness is full, free, and eternal. O, let not a child of God hold a grudge, but rather restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, giving liberally from the threshingfloor of a renewed heart.
Pray mightily for that dear wife, that the Holy Ghost would melt the frost, dissolve the resentment, and let love enter in again. There is healing for every wound, the very leaves from the Tree of Life are for the healing of the nations, and the least word of Christ hath medicine in it for the broken‑hearted. So press that promise to her soul: "I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." He that made the heart can turn it whithersoever He will. And for that husband, entreat the Lord to shine upon him, to lift the gloom of depression, and to fill him with a patient and understanding love, that he may not weary in well‑doing.
Let your prayer be this: "Restore unto us the joy of Thy salvation; cast us not away from Thy presence; take not Thy Holy Spirit from us, but make us a united family again." Our God is the God of perfect restoration. He it is who saith, "I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria." What He has joined together, no man may put asunder; and though sin and weakness have caused a breach, yet His grace can heal it. Only believe. Come now, all you that are weary and heavy laden, to the foot of the cross, there is forgiveness, there is power, there is life. Flee not from the place where mercy sits enthroned! Go, fall before Him who wept over Jerusalem, and let your household be filled with the fragrance of redeeming love. Amen.
