Why Does God Hate Divorce?
October 21, 2021
You cry out, “Why doesn’t the Lord accept my worship?” I’ll tell you why! Because the Lord witnessed the vows you and your wife made when you were young. But you have been unfaithful to her, though she remained your faithful partner, the wife of your marriage vows.
Didn’t the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth. "For I hate divorce! To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty," says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.” Malachi 2:14-16 NLT
These verses have been used throughout history to whip people who have experienced divorce and have caused many to believe that God hates divorced people. Nothing could be further from the truth. Go back and read those verses again as if you had never read them before. Can’t you feel the loving and tender heart of God for His children?
God feels intensely about divorce because His desire for us is to be like Him, faithful to the covenants we have made. He says we are His in body and spirit, and like a faithful and good father, nothing pleases Him more than when His children pick up and live out the family values. Absolute faithfulness is core to His character and should be to ours.
God feels intensely about divorce, hating it, because he loves people. When you love your children you want to protect them from all that would hurt or destroy them. You warn them and try to guide them away from the choices that you can see will damage their hearts and destroy their joy. God created us and knows us best. He knows how devastating breaking our covenant will be, and He wants us to steer clear of that.
God feels intensely about divorce because He knows nothing in life will hurt us more deeply or impact us more completely than divorce. He says divorce will “overwhelm with cruelty.” Who loves their children who would not hate and want to prevent anything capable of that?
God feels intensely about us and loves us so deeply that He tells us how to prevent divorce. Guard your heart. Protect your heart from the spirits, attitudes, and distractions that will kill love. Keep your heart committed—true character is keeping the commitment you made even when the feelings and emotions with which you made the commitment are not currently present. Don’t let bitterness slip in through a crack. “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life” (Proverbs 4:23).
- Lord Jesus, show me any cracks in my life where I am vulnerable. Help me guard my heart like my life depends on it because it does. Amen.