{"id":16058,"date":"2026-02-14T19:25:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T00:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/?p=16058"},"modified":"2026-02-14T19:25:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T00:25:41","slug":"the-wisdom-and-goodness-of-god-concerning-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/16058\/the-wisdom-and-goodness-of-god-concerning-marriage\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wisdom and Goodness of God Concerning Marriage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pastor John,<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Beth and I were talking about\u00a0kings, David\u00a0and, in particular, Solomon, and the wisdom and love of God for man in his instructions to His children on marriage.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0God told Solomon and all the nation of Israel not to intermarry because God had created marriage to join two hearts into one.\u00a0\u00a0It isn’t an option for them to become one; it is God’s creation and what marriage is.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0So,\u00a0it wasn’t because Solomon was evil that he turned to the gods of his foreign wives, but rather the result of what marriage is: the meshing or unifying of two hearts into one.\u00a0\u00a0Solomon had no choice but to become a man who would serve other gods because he didn’t guard his heart from those who would behave that way.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0I think it is like pouring ink into water.\u00a0\u00a0It becomes one color, a different color.\u00a0\u00a0There is no stopping that union once the two are joined.\u00a0\u00a0And likewise, we have no control over the\u00a0one<\/u>\u00a0heart we will become when we marry, but we have full control over the heart we join ourselves to.\u00a0\u00a0That is glorious.\u00a0\u00a0It is love and wisdom from God.\u00a0\u00a0He has told us how to do it, how to be happy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0So, the purest of hearts, if it marries a dissimilar heart, will become like that heart, because that is marriage:\u00a0two becoming one.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Beth said it made her feel more love and mercy toward Solomon and any of God’s people who end up like him.\u00a0\u00a0I agree.\u00a0\u00a0I think we both feel more love and pity for Solomon, who started out so well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Years ago.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0I watched a movie years ago, a fictional take on a tragedy that occurred long ago in a different country.\u00a0 It troubled my spirit as I watch \u2013 I felt it \u2013 and I felt to turn it off.\u00a0\u00a0I didn’t, however, because I was so engrossed in the story that I wanted to see how it would end.\u00a0\u00a0When I went to bed that evening, as I was drifting off,\u00a0\u00a0I saw horrific images in my mind, unrelated to what I saw in the movie.\u00a0\u00a0Still awake but nearing sleep, I heard my heart cry out, “Jesus, I don’t want to see this!”\u00a0\u00a0The Spirit spoke back to me and said, “You don’t have control over that; you only have control over keeping the door shut.\u00a0\u00a0Once you open the door, you don’t know what goes in.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Almost brings me to tears, thinking about His goodness and watchful eye over our hearts.\u00a0\u00a0Praise Him (and bless Him!), He is right and good.<\/span><\/p>\n

P.S.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Beth said I missed something we had talked about, and that is, “Marriage is marriage for better or for worse.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0God meant it for good, but the union or “marriage” of hearts occurs even when it is bad.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Men and women recite vows in marriage, stating the union is “for better or for worse, in sickness and in health.” That applies spiritually as much or more so than physically.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jerry<\/span><\/p>\n

==========<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Excellent point, Jerry.\u00a0 We have no say-so in the result of our choices; that is God’s part.\u00a0 He alone is Judge.\u00a0 We only have control over our choices.\u00a0 And thank God for that!<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Throughout Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, Solomon was pleading with his children to make wise choices \u2013 and then, as he got older, he himself did not.\u00a0 And the result, that is, the judgment for his choices, was up to God alone.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Pastor John<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pastor John, \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Beth and I were talking about\u00a0kings, David\u00a0and, in particular, Solomon, and the wisdom and love of God for man in his instructions to His children on marriage. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0God told Solomon and all the nation of Israel not to intermarry because God had created marriage to join two hearts into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-netmail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16058"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16058"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16059,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16058\/revisions\/16059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}