subject: The best source of guidiance in choosing a Life partner [print this page] People often show better judgment in selecting a used motor-car than in selecting a wife or a husband. This is one reason why many marriages turn out to be unhappy.
Not many of us are clever enough as mechanics to know what hidden defects there may be in the used car we buy. Still less is it possible to know what kind of character lies beneath the surface in the person you may think of marrying. Often a great shock comes after the wedding day. If one only had some kind of supernatural X-ray machine like the gun-detectors in modern airports that can "see" inside the passengers' luggage!
If you have faith in Christ, faith that is informed and intelligent, you can know that the Lord Himself will guide you in finding a wife or a husband. HE can see inside the heart. When the prophet Samuel went to the home of Jesse to anoint a future King of Israel, he did not have this X-ray vision. When he admired the tall, handsome kingly form of Aliab, the eldest son, the Lord warned him not to anoint him as king:
The Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man [or woman] seeth: for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart (Samuel 16:7).
One might say that Adam had no choice in the selection of his wife, for the Lord made Eve for him. But there is something important in the words, "Words, "the Lord..... brought her unto the man" (Genesis 2:22). Do you feel your need of the Lord's guidance in this most important choice? If so, the Lord will bring the right one to you. "A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven" (John 3:27). "Find a wife and you find a good thing; it shows that the Lord is good to you." "A man can inherit a house and money from his parent, but only the Lord can give him a sensible wife" (Proverbs 18:22, 19:14).
Are you willing to let the Lord lead you? Do you have faith to believe that He loves you and will give you that which will make you truly happy? Can you trust Him? "Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart" (Psalm 37:4). In our natural, sinful state we cannot believe that the Lord will give us what is best for us. We want to take things into our own hands.
Never do people show more foolish, shortsighted, selfish desires than in this matter of getting married. They cannot tell the difference between genuine love and infatuation. They want only their own way, deciding that they will accept guidance from no one, not even God. They do not trust Him. But David says, "The Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed [happy] is the man that trusteth in Thee" (Psalm 84:11, 12).
The best source of guidiance in choosing a Life partner
