Strong

You have heard the vows before. Maybe you used these or similar vows on your wedding day. To have and to hold from this day forward. For better or for worse. For richer or for poorer. In sickness and in health. As long as we both shall live. These vows, or ones like them, are spoken at virtually every one of the 5,918 weddings that take place each day in the United States. Unfortunately, too many of those who say, “I do,” end up saying, “I don’t.”

Have you ever caught a fox? Neither have I. But I am assuming that chasing and catching a fox would be quite a feat. Solomon uses this picture of catching foxes to remind us of little things that can do considerable damage.

Marriages don’t explode. There is seldom one event that causes a husband and wife to call it quits. Rather the demise of a marriage is more like a slow leak. If the leak is not tended to, over time, the air escapes, and the relationship goes flat.

Do you believe that every marriage is made in heaven? I do! God brings a man and woman together so they can do things they could never do alone. And it all started with Adam and Eve. 

In today’s passage, God goes big to explain the vision of marriage. The full vision has too often been shrunk to focus on the happiness and satisfaction of a husband and wife. Certainly, happiness and satisfaction are desired outcomes, but marriage is bigger than you and your happiness. Marriage is about God.

Teaching sexuality is, first and foremost, a family’s responsibility. Yesterday we considered how a family protects and honors their children who remain pure. But what does the family do when a child gives in to temptation?

Teaching sexuality is, first and foremost, a family’s responsibility. It cannot be delegated or abdicated. It is the responsibility of the two people who brought the child into the world by the act of sex to teach about sex through appropriate words, faithfulness, and commitment to marriage.

Sex is God’s idea. It was created and ordained by him. So, it’s not culture but God’s Word that gives us the guidelines for marital sex. Here are some important instructions for husbands and wives from the Proverbs.

Sex is both mutually satisfying and mutually submissive. The husband and wife are to “yield” to each other. There is nothing more frustrating to a man than to save himself for his wife only to be rejected. And there is nothing more frustrating to a wife than to be committed to her husband only to feel used.