THE TROUBLES OF OUR HEARTS

 If you will permit me, I’d like to take Sunday’s message and give it a marital application. Thank you, Curt, for the time you spend studying God’s word to deliver truth and application to us at Faith. Thank you, too, how you weaved mother’s hearts into the message. I especially could relate when you spoke of no mother being able to listen who has not had their hearts filled with worry or fear at the realization that our words, actions, hopes and desires for our children do not come with guarantees to what paths our children will take—will they follow the Lord? Will they abandon their faith? If so, for how long…. The questions are real and sometimes endless.
But as I think of marriage, our body here at Faith, the number of husbands and wives we have… perhaps there are some who have questions about their spouse or their marriage? Will they be faithful? Will they fall? Will they fall again? Will our marriage last? Will I fall? How much longer can I stay in this marriage? There are many other questions that plague some of our marriages.
These questions are very real for some of our couples. These are questions I have even asked. No amount of hoping, no amount of desires, no amount of praying guarantees the outcome. What are we to do?
From 1 Pet 5, we are to humble ourselves before our loving heavenly Father’s MIGHTY hand. We do need to come before Him, bowed and believing He is able to do more than we can imagine. We do need to come before him in humility believing He is working something out in our own hearts as we hope and desire; realizing, we, too, are not without sin in our marriage. We do need to trust in God, continually casting those cares on Him, honestly speaking to Him, listening to Him, waiting on Him.  Ps. 25:17 reads, "the troubles of our heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses." Ps. 33:20-21 reads, "Our soul waits for the Lord, He is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in Him, because we trust in His holy name." Why? Because as it says in 1 Pet. 5, God does care and His heart breaks for the results of sin of husbands and wives in our marriages.
When a marriage is struggling, there is a lot of guilt and shame associated with the struggle. The biggest deception Satan wants us to believe is that ‘you’re a Christian couple, you’re not supposed to be struggling’ or ‘you’re probably the only couple who struggles this way’ or perhaps he’s whispered this is your ears – ‘there is no hope, you might as well quit’…. There is a plethora of lies he lobs at our ears, our hearts.
Verse 8 of 1 Pet. 5 exhorts us "to be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him." If you’re feeling like you are in over your head, you might be—don’t walk alone, get help. Talk to Pastor Marc. There are couples available at Faith who want to walk with you with a spirit of gentleness, to bear your burden with you. They themselves are not the answer, but God can certainly use them to help you, to encourage you, to share hope with you as you wait or as you decide to turn from your patterns of sin to a marriage of love and obedience based upon the truths of God’s word, faith and hope. 
If you are in a marriage that is blessed with strength, strong faith and growth in the Lord! Rejoice. Consider how or if God might desire to use you to help others along. We who are strong are to help those who are weak. Rom. 15:1-2 and Gal. 6 commend us so.
Humble yourself before the Lord’s mighty hand. Seek help. You are not alone, God is faithful. He will never leave you, nor forsake you. He cares for you.