As a teenager, our Bible study leaders emphasized how marrying the “WILL OF GOD” is non-negotiable. Seriously! How many billions of ladies are all over the world? Some of us used to see it as impossible. But as I grew older, it became less impossible. Some courtships of some senior Christian friends and brethren offered love stories almost better than the fabled Romeo and Juliet, and to listen to their testimonies regarding the WILL OF GOD was a joy.

The concept was sinking in and just at about the time that I began to fully buy into it, some of those Romeos and Juliets began to hit the rocks and the severity of some of those crashes made folks like me say - this thing is a fluke, at its best. I decided to accept all the principles but not be bothered by marrying the will of God. Rather, I would marry a child of God. That’s all that matters; I thought. Be careful how you judge others’ failings, for I crashed a few times. With maximum respect to the good people, I will jump the intervening years…

Getting close to marriage, I had grown enough to know that my marital choice is the most consequential decision of my mortal life, just as accepting Jesus is central to my eternal fate. I surrendered and admitted my frailty and limited wisdom. So, marrying within God’s will for my life became non-negotiable. But the tricky part is “how do you know God is asking you to marry this person, of the billions of people out there?” How do you hear from God? Or better still, do you hear from God? If the first time you are communicating with God is at the point of marital choice, it may be tough. “My sheep know my voice” is a product of a relationship.

In handling marrying the will of God, I have observed that most ministers only emphasize the roles of the people going into marriage. And while I understand that the consequences of wrong marital choice are more personal than communal, I do think that we can’t continue to abdicate God’s mandate upon us in being used by Him to guide His flock. No, we are not to play God; but we are God’s agents; Eliezers. A return to the landmark may be our resort.

How did marrying the will of God play out in the Bible? Besides Adam, we have many other Biblical accounts of how couples met. The most famous perhaps are Isaac and Rebecca. How did Isaac “RECEIVE” Rebecca? Gen 24! Of keen interest to me in the passage are the foresight and fatherly care of Abraham; the innovative approach; the prayer of Eliezer and his diligent implementation. Do you think that is ‘old school’ since we are now all ‘mobile Holy Spirits’? In contemporary days, Indians rank among the people with the least divorce statistics.

And I have only come across 3 Indian Christians who reported marrying their early life love birds. The rest are after the manner of Isaac. A few times in my young life, God has given me a modified role of Eliezer; modified because the two people involved still had the decisions and because I have never faced such a role alone. With all humility, I can posit that Eliezer’s ministry is one of the fallow plots in today’s Christianity. Some may term it matchmaking and brew controversies but examine what the world has turned into in the past 22 years alone and you may realise why the faith and value preservation mission that sent Eliezer back to Abraham’s homeland is more crucial to our days than in the days of Abraham.

Let’s bring it home. Even within your church, you can no longer throw cautions into the sky and just receive someone from the workers’ group. That has failed many unwary brethren. A saved, oath-honest, and Spirit-led Eliezer who is not looking for materialistic or curvy traits, but for faith-linked virtues would see your occiput than barber’s mirrors would. And with the fast-growing leftists’ agenda, the Lord needs Eliezers, to preserve our precious faith and values; to safeguard the fold from the Canaanites who have grown within our ranks.

Selah!

© SELAH SERIES 2022