Cognitive dissonance is a study of psychology; it is the internal tension that results when our experience doesn’t match our beliefs and values. There are all kinds of explanations of cognitive dissonance. The Bible itself challenges an easy dismissal by giving compelling examples. We will continue in Malachi as it illuminates how easily we can be led astray…
“Malachi 2:11 Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god. 12 As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the tents of Jacob—even though he brings an offering to the Lord Almighty.
13 Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. 14 You ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.
15 Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.
16 “The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,” says the Lord Almighty.
So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful.”
God knew exactly what He was doing when He told us not to marry unbelievers. This act can be seen again and again in the Old Testament leading the people of Israel away from the Lord. Again, the same prohibition was given in the New Testament. Without fail the mixing of Godly with the leaven of the world will always lead to the whole becoming leavened. What does the light have to do with darkness? How can the darkness overcome the light? Yet time and again we see that when we first began to entertain the darkness it will quickly fill our lives. So, God was very clear in all respects we are to abstain from the darkness. Do not be unequally yoked. Here the people had gone even one step further, they had divorced the wives of their youth to go after foreign wives that worshiped idols. In vs. 13 we see them crying and wailing but God would not hear them. Why? It was because they were unrepentant, they had broken a vow that had been made. This vow was not just between the man and his wife it was a vow between God and man. Here was a double betrayal, and still the sin went on. When a man is hurting his wife and betraying her, his prayers to God will not be heard. You cannot live this way and expect God to overlook you breaking of the covenant vow.
As men we are to protect our wives and defend our families. We are to be the, “Godly offspring” of our heavenly Father. We are to always be on guard. First, to watch over our own lives that we do not permit even one drop of leaven into our lives. Second, to be on guard and faithful to protect our wives from all harm. Lastly, to watch over our children and bring them up in the truth of the Lord. Teach your families to avoid the leaven of the world and teach your children to abstain from dating and marrying an unbeliever. The battle we fight is a spiritual battle. It is the old flesh warning against the new spirit that is within. It is only through the truth of God’s word and with the strength of His Spirit that we have any hope of victory. But rest assured, we will have the victory for our Lord has already overcome this world.
Artwork: Georges Rouault, Plate 1, Christ in the Suburbs, oil on canvas, 1920-1922
Anchor In The Storm 