Learning to Love the Bridegroom
A lesson for singles &
discontent married people
singleminded singles
- God wants us girls, at this time in our lives to be passionately (Passion: all your heart, soul, mind and strength “The Greatest Commandment”) in love with Him.
a.
It’s natural that you would desire a man (“A
woman’s desire will be for her husband…” Gen 3, and “but one who is married is concerned about the things of the
world, how she may please her husband.” and 1 Cor. 7 34)
b. It’s natural that you would marry. Paul urged young women to marry, “Therefore, I want younger widows to get married,
bear children, keep house, and give the enemy no occasion for reproach..” 1 Tim. 5:14
c.
But, He must do a work in you where your desire for Him rules over any other. This is
our lesson in the first commandment God gave Moses. “I am the Lord your God…You shall have no other gods before Me.” Deut.
20:2
d. He is jealous for your love. “for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous
God” Ex 20:5.
and “I will betroth you to me forever.” and “In that day’, declares
the Lord, ‘you will call me ‘my husband’” Hosea 2:16,
19,20.
- God wants to build character in us. He wants to grow our Dependency on Him. When we know and depend on the Father, we prefer His will above anything else.
a. To
depend wholly on a man exclusive of God is our natural fallen state as women. To receive love, affirmation, acceptance and
security from a human relationship in order to feel valuable and important is
our sinful state of being.
b. God
designed us to depend on Him. “Lean not
on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make
your paths straight.” And “Seek first the kingdom of God
and all these things will be added unto you.” “Delight yourself in the Lord and
he will give you the desires of your heart.” Joy Dawson describes how
dependency flows out of relationship, “God wants to bring us to the place where
what He tells us to do is not nearly as important as who He is who gives the order.”
- Distractions to these works of God in our lives include: thinking about men, talking about men, absorption in our feelings about men. Hosea 2:13 says, “She went after her lovers, but me she forgot.”
- Overcoming Distraction brings success in our single season of life.
a.) God
will draw you, “Therefore I am now going to allure her: I will lead her into
the desert and speak tenderly to her.” Hosea 2:14
b.) He
will woo you. “Listen, O daughter, give
attention and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father’s house;
Then the King will desire your beauty.
Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him.” Ps 45:10,11.
c.) He
will show you his faithfulness when you trust Him, “I will even betroth thee
unto me in faithfulness.” Hosea 2:20
d.) He
will frustrate your plans to worship other gods, “Therefore, behold, I will
hedge up her way with thorns, And I will build a wall against her so that she
cannot find her paths. “She will pursue
her lovers, but she will not overtake them; And she will seek them, but will
not find them. Then she will say, ‘I
will go back to my first husband, For it was better for me then than now!’
e.) Faith
in his promise will grant success , “Unless the Lord builds the house (my relationship with a man/
my family) its builders labor in vain,” . We will overcome distractions in this season
of life if we focus on our good future promised to us, and the vanity of
striving after our desires for a man and a family.
