They Shall Become One (Genesis 2:24)

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh.”

– Genesis 2:24

It’s pretty amazing that from the very beginning of the Bible, we’re only two chapters in to the Bible when we see this picture of marriage. Marriage as God defines it. Now, I know in the culture I live in, country I live in, we have sought to redefine marriage according to our ideas and our standards, but that’s really ultimately not possible. We can not redefine what God has defined since the beginning of creation. Man and a woman coming together and becoming one flesh. This is God’s design for marriage and for flourishing from marriage for a husband and a wife and children to flourish.

Marriage in the church must be shaped by the Word not by the world.

This Verse Explains the Purpose of Marriage

The way that back to Genesis 1:28 “Be fruitful and multiply.” So, this is where I’m compelled just especially in my country, in my culture to pray for a return to God’s definition of marriage. For a priority on God’s definition of marriage but not just in the laws of our country. So, yes, that, but then also in our hearts.

I think about people who are listening right now who are married. Are we modeling marriage the way God has called us to model marriage? When I think about singles who are listening to this. So, one are we thriving in singleness and then two, if we think about marriage, are we thinking about marriage as God has called us to think about marriage? We know based on Ephesians chapter five that God wasn’t just creating this institution of marriage in a haphazard way at this point. He was designing this for the display of the gospel. That in a husband’s love for his wife, we would see a picture of Christ’s love for the church and a wife’s love for her husband. We would see a picture of the church’s love for Christ.

Genesis 2:24 Prays For Marriages Designed by Him

So, we need to pray. Ask God to make our marriages what he has designed them to be. So, I pray that God, we pray for this in each one of our lives. I pray this in my life, in my marriage. God, help Heather and me to be the husband and wife that you’ve called us to be. Help us to love one another well. Help me to sacrifice for her. And help her to joyfully follow sacrificial leadership. Lord, help us to love and respect one another as you’ve called us to. Lord, help me to serve her, to nourish her, to cherish her in all the ways we see in Ephesians chapter five.

God I pray this not just for my marriage. I pray this for other marriages. People who are listening to this right now. God help us. Help us to continually examine in our marriages how we can best be the husbands and wives you’ve called us to be. Lord, I know that there are some who are listening right now who might even be in some really challenging marriage situations. God, I pray for grace in those situations. I just pray for grace to be the husband or wife that you’ve called the men and women to be. I pray for singles who are contemplating marriage. God, I pray that as they’re single, you would enable them to thrive in singleness in a 1 Corinthians 7 kind of way.

Genesis 2:24 Prays for Marriage to be Shaped by His Word

Then God, as they think about marriage, God, cause your word to shape the way they think about marriage far more than the world. Oh, God. I pray for that across the board. Please cause our thoughts and desires when it comes to marriage to be shaped more by your word than by the world around us which has turned away from your word. God, we pray that this picture in Genesis 2:24 would be evident in our homes and in the church in the way we view marriage. All for the glory of Christ in the church we pray. In his name, amen.