“Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint.” Prov. 29:18 (ESV) “If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves.” (MSG) Vision in married life is the avenue of staying focused and on track. The word translated “vision” more specifically translates, “the revelation of divine truth.” I like to put it this way: Vision, is God speaking to us about Himself, and about our relationship with Him and His kingdom.
Vision, is God speaking to us about Himself, and about our relationship with Him and His kingdom. Click To TweetWe either live in the “divine revelation of truth,” or we live without it. Clearly, if we lack vision, we are susceptible to “casting off restraint” or “stumbling all over ourselves.” What kind of relationship do you presently have with God? Is it a casual, occasional one, or would you say it is more characterized by a consistent deliberateness resulting in a deepening connection with Him? Is He central in your life, or is He peripheral? The centrality of Christ in your life will determine the health of your individual heart, as well as your married life.
Think back over your dating/courting season. How did you come to the place of deciding to marry? Wasn’t it because you were both desirous and deliberate about pursuing your relationship? I would venture to say that you spent lots of time together talking and getting to know each other, right? Your relationship took time and effort to develop and so too, does our relationship with the Lord. We must be willing to invest time to come before Him, so we can pursue getting to know Him and His plans for us.
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with His hand.” Ps. 37:23-24 Are you in a place in your relationship with Him where you can be directed by Him and upheld with His hand ? If not, are you desirous of this close relationship with Him? If you find the desire to meet with the Lord in the secret place lacking, or perhaps just not strong enough to motivate you, ask Him for this desire. Ask Him to increase your hunger for Him.
In our thirty-five years of marriage counseling, one of the most frequent issues we have encountered is that of a “waning vision.” Blindsided by the enemy, overloaded with stress, couples spiral into a crisis of failing to exercise the restraints needed to stay focused. They lose hope and become discouraged. The way forward is found in re-establishing the basics.
As we come before God and His Word with a heart open to what He wants to say to us, little by little we are renewed in the heart knowledge of who He is and how very much He loves us. This fuels our hearts to want more. The amazing fruit of living like this is that we live satisfied in our relationship with the Lord. When we live a life satisfied in Christ, we will not be placing unrealistic demands upon our spouse. Rather, we will find ourselves filled with Him, and the result will be an overflow of His life out to our spouse. When both spouses live filled with Him, vision in married life returns, resulting in the best marriage they could ever imagine.