Oh, How He Loves Us! God’s Love Story For Our Marriage

What do you want God to do for your marriage? What is God’s love story for your marriage? God wants us to love one another because He wants our relationships to showcase His love!

For your maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name.
(Isaiah 54:5, ESV)

That’s the question I threw out on social media last year when I began work on a new book about how we can pray for our marriage. You can imagine the answers:  People wanted better communication. Good relationships with their in-laws. Deeper spiritual and physical intimacy. Help handling money—and conflict.

People wanted the power to be kind and the grace to forgive.

These are all valid concerns—and they all made it into the book. Nobody, though, said anything about wanting to discover, and live out, God’s purpose for their marriage.

I’m not pointing fingers; when Robbie and I got married, we didn’t think about what God might want for our marriage (or the other way ‘round). I’m pretty sure I wanted kids and a house and Robbie wanted a dog. Beyond that, our primary desire was to just love one another.

Happily, that’s what God wants as well—for us, and for every marriage. God wants us to love one another because He wants our relationships to showcase His love!

We are God’s forever beloved

Over and over again in the Bible, we see evidence of God’s lavish affection:

He invites us to make ourselves at home in his love (John 15:9).

He says he will rejoice over us “as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride” (Isaiah 62:5).

And it doesn’t matter whether we are married or single; he promises a love story that lasts: “I will betroth you to me forever.” (Hosea 2:19)

“I will betroth you to me forever.”

We are God’s beloved. We can love, he says, because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19) And every time we “walk in love” (as Ephesians 5:2 puts it), giving ourselves up for each other as Christ did for us, we get to partake of the gospel. Which, in a marriage, is something we have a hundred opportunities to do every day. We allow God to create our very own love story.

It might be as simple as bringing the other person a cup of coffee or getting up early to let the dog out. It might be going to a movie that we don’t care about but our spouse wants to see. It might be something much bigger. MUCH bigger. But whenever we choose to put our partner’s needs or desires ahead of our own, we reflect God’s lay-down-his-life love for us.

And that, I am discovering, is what marriage is all about.

Marriage isn’t about “completing” each other or making each other happy. It’s about putting each other’s needs ahead of our own. It’s about giving of ourselves for one another, even when we are far from perfect or loveable. And it’s about remembering the ultimate demonstration of love: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8).

In His Word

“‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:31-32)

In Your Life

Take a few moments to consider the lavishness of God’s love. How does God’s betrothal—his desire to call you his own and be with you forever—encourage your heart?

In what ways does your marriage reflect the charge to walk in love and give yourselves up for each other? What role does the Holy Spirit play in equipping you to submit to your spouse out of reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5:18-21)? How can you love and support one another this week?

We Recommend

Read more about God’s love for us and his purpose for marriage (plus twenty other relationship topics) in Praying the Scriptures for Your Marriage: Trusting God with Your Most Important Relationship. Whether you’re just starting out, holding on in a hard place, or navigating the empty nest years, there is no need you will face that God has not already thought of, and provided for, in his word!

Let’s Connect

Connect with Jodie on Instagram and via her email newsletter, and please visit jodieberndt.com to access free resources like printable prayer cards and calendars, encouraging videos, and study guides for group or individual use.