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Ezra 8:21 – "Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance." I Kings 11:33 – During the reign of Solomon – "Because that they
have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians,
Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon,
and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to
keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father." II Kings 17:9-13 – When Israel went into Assyrian captivity – "And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city." Psalms 51:10 – "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." We have a meeting coming up starting Monday evening at 7:00 p.m. with Brother Troy McGahan. We are looking forward to a good time in the Lord. In looking forward to this meeting, I want to preach this message. We need to be right with God. I am not saying "Get right with God", but I am saying "Be right with God." The difference is obvious if we will only look. Get right with God indicates that we are fluctuating in our closeness with God. We probably are fluctuating, but we should be right with God instead of having to get right with God. See I Corinthians 7:1-6. The wife does not belong to herself, but to her husband. The husband does not belong to himself, but to his wife. Verse 33 confirms that this truth. Each spouse must submit themselves to their spouse unconditionally, without reservation. This will make a happy marriage. Everybody wants a happy marriage, just like everybody wants a good relationship with God. We are who is causing our marriages to not be happy, and we are who is causing our relationship with God to not be good. Compare: we want intimacy in our marriage, but we want it our way, on our terms, when we want it. We do the same thing with God. If we truly want intimacy in our marriage, we must completely trust and rely on our spouse. We must completely rest in the love, companionship, fellowship, of our spouse. We must trust them with the most intimate parts of our lives, our thoughts, and our bodies. We must have no thought about what we want, but must totally dedicate ourselves to the desires of our spouse. I know there are abuses in this life, but I am not talking about that. I know there are spouses that will take advantage, but if you have the spouse God gave you, and that spouse is right with God, or trying to be right, you can totally trust that spouse to treat you fairly. I am talking about complete submission, surrender and capitulation. I am talking about availability, vulnerability, accessibility. In physical intimacy, we might desire this only when everything is done: the chores are all finished, housework all finished, sermons all prepared, no problems at work, bills all paid, books all finished, letters all written, children all fed, everything caught up. This doesn’t happen very often, so physical intimacy doesn’t happen very often. What happens in our spiritual life is that we do God the same way. We want to be intimate with God, but reserve those times when we want it. When both husband and wife think like they should there will be a good marriage. When they don’t think like they should there will be a bad marriage. Our spouse might do us wrong, or mistake our desires or intentions but God never will. Solomon 1:7 – "…till he pleases…" Not when I have had enough. Song of Solomon 5:2-8 – Looking for intimacy at our convenience, not when God calls for it, and he goes away and we cannot find intimacy. Note the many passages in Malachi that state how Israel wanted to do things their way.
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