He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. Proverbs 18:22
These are the words of Solomon to his son Rehoboam. This wise father commends marriage to his son as a good thing. Marriage is a good gift from the Lord. That means if you are married, your spouse is a gift from the Lord.
We live in a culture that says, Who wants to be tied down? But the Bible has a very different view of marriage. Solomon says, “An excellent wife is the crown of her husband” (Prov. 12:4), and the book of Proverbs ends with a poem in praise of a good wife: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all” (31:29). The wise husband appreciates his wife, and he tells her where she excels.
Ray Ortlund, in his book Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel, points out that when the word “husband” is used as a verb, it means “to cultivate.” When we talk about “husbandry” we are talking about care and cultivation. So if God has trusted you with a wife, your job as a husband is to create the conditions in which she can flourish. That’s what it means to be a husband. “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25).
If you are married, do you see your spouse as God’s good gift to you? Sometimes it may be hard to see, but God is doing something through your marriage that will turn out for your good if you love and trust Him!
