- In the United States, 49% of marriages end in divorce.
- Although 82% of all married couples will reach their fifth wedding anniversary, only 52% will celebrate 15 years of marriage.
- The median duration of first marriages that end in divorce is slightly less than eight years.
Recent U.S. statistics look grim to a newly-wed couple or even a couple that has been married for years. Marriage has undeniably become a part-time, temporary job to those who have sworn an oath and agreed to a covenant before God. So why is the divorce rate so high?
According to the polls, the U.S. is predominantly Christian. If Christians are an overwhelming majority, how is it that the divorce rate among them is also equally high, if not higher?
It is evident that couples are not working together as God intended them to do. His principles are clear. It is our responsibility to respond.
Genesis 2:22-24 22 And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." 24Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Gen 2:24 "man shall leave his father and mother..." Because Adam had no parents, his responsibility was to his wife and no one else. Adam was to pave the way for the rest of humanity, which is why God says he must leave family behind. Adam had no family to leave behind, but those who came after him were to do so as God so declared. So in every household, the husband is to be the head of the home. Family members that impose their customs into his home are actually driving a wedge between husband and wife.
continued "...and hold fast to his wife..." The husband should cling to his wife only and nothing else. They formed the union that God created from the beginning. This being said, a wife must be the most important person in a man's life; he must care for her and make her his priority. Because the husband is the head of the household, he is responsible to make sure that his marriage does not fail. Many husbands and wives carry on their daily lives in the presence of other people, so much that a wall is built between them. Before they realize it, the marriage becomes a friendship. Soon, children, friends, and/or family become more important.
Married people do not realize that they are going against God's word. God knew exactly what He was doing when He breathed out these wise words of instruction. The husband's duty is to love his wife AND keep close to her at all times. It does not mean that as spouses they cannot have time apart, but it means that husband and wife should spend more time with each other than they do with others.
continued "...and they shall become one flesh." God commanded this scripture to be respected in order for the marriage to be solid and unified. It is no longer husband and father and mother, but husband and wife should equal to one, just as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three entities that are all one. It is a mystery that is incomprehensible to man, but it is the way that the Lord designed marriage.
If man abides by the scripture, then he and his wife will be one. Marriages end up in divorce because the husband is bound to his family. When the husband neglects his wife for his friends, his work, even his ministry, he is causing division in the home. Likewise, the wife who prefers to be in her family's presence rather than her husband's is also building a wall. Eventually when everyone they once clung to is gone, they are left with walls too high to climb, and their marriage is no longer bound. This is why it becomes easy for spouses to divorce. The distance between them is so wide, they become two separate entities.
