Marriage #1

And the LORD God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him." And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 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." Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Genesis 2:18, 21-25, www.solascriptura.com

Father, these Scriptures mark the beginning of "marriage". You tell us of Your perfect plan for a man and a woman. Father, each of us will read these verses from a different perspective but here we see Your perspective. O' Father, if we could always simply follow Your expectations, life for us would be as You expect.

You have taught us that we should seek to be obedient and seek to know Your Holy word and to follow it. Yet, You told us that every man has sinned and fallen short of Your glory. We look back at some of our past sins, sins which You have blotted out, and we wish we had never sinned. We know, Father, that it is not Your will that we dwell on the past but that we truly put it behind us, just as You have, and that we look to new possibilities, new levels of faith and obedience, made possible by the power of the Holy Spirit in us.

Thank You Jesus for being the enabling power that we never had before we committed our lives to You. Help us, today, to commit our lives to Your service, meeting Your expectations, in all that we do, say and think. Your grace and mercy exceed anything we could reasonably hope for. Lead us as we seek to treat others the way you have treated us. In Jesus' Holy name, we pray, amen.

Bruce Caldwell