Pastor John, what hope would you offer to a listener right now who is a stressed wife

or a stressed husband who is disappointed in their spouse?

They are frustrated with their marriage and they're now considering a divorce as a way

of escape out of the frustrations.

Well, the first thing that comes to my mind is that more pain is experienced in marriage

and parenting than anywhere else in the world.

This is the cost of covenant making and covenant keeping love.

It cost Jesus his life to be in that kind of relationship.

So I'm not making light ever of the kind of pain that can be sustained in a parenting

or a married relationship.

And the first thing I'd say is that the path to hope is not the path of divorce.

God can rescue sinners from the disaster of a divorce.

But he warns, let us not sin that grace may abound.

Planned sin is not accompanied by any promises of hope.

Jesus said, Mark 10, 9, what therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.

And the deepest reason for that prohibition of breaking a marriage is that marriage

was created by God from the beginning as a picture or an expression of the covenant

keeping love of Christ and his church, Ephesians 5, 22 following.

So my word of hope begins with a plea.

I've given it countless times to women and men, put divorce out of your mind as a remedy.

Don't consider it, say to yourself, in the truth of Christ, by the power of the Holy

Spirit, this is not an option.

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