Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man: A Daily Devotional

by Walter A. Henrichsen

DECEMBER 6 Day 341 The Wife of Your Youth “He no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.” Malachi 2:13-14 Although women sue for divorce, men in particular have a problem with this issue; they value the looks and shape of women to such a degree that they are often tempted to divorce the wife of their youth and the mother of their children in order to satisfy their lust for fleshly beauty. In Malachi’s day the men reasoned: “Abraham put away Hagar, by whom he had begotten Ishmael, and who was therefore also his wife.”1 The Pharisees sought to leverage Jesus with the argument that Moses gave a bill of divorce.2 Such sophomoric reasoning can easily be seen for what it is: an endeavor to justify violating God’s commandments. You cannot use a biblical example to justify breaking or modifying a biblical command. Society joins God in condemning divorce, evidenced by the disparaging remarks made about those who abandon their families for “greener pastures.” Children are angry with their fathers and the courts generally take the side of the mothers. And rightly so, for it is a shameful act that God will harshly judge. Your marriage is bound by an inviolable covenant. You will never be able to replace the wife of your youth, no matter how attractive the options may appear, and God w...