Reality of Divine Direction in Marital Affairs

Reality of Divine Direction in Marital Affairs
By: Olaniyi Isaac Omibeku (PIO)

God leads His own in all things. If anyone tells you that God only leads in some aspects of life and leaves men to figure out on others, he's just trying to mislead you. God is interested in guiding us in the least areas of our lives.
How sweet is a life that God directs and guides! I and my family are beneficiaries of divine direction and it has been sweet and sweet experience all the way.

A young man rose up to ask question at one of the meetings I was invited to speak to some National Youth Corps Members sometime ago in Gumel, Jigawa state. These were the statements he made:
Proverbs 18:22 says. He that findeth a wife findeth a good thing and obtaineth favour from the Lord... he went further saying, "Nobody has ever satisfied me with a good answer on this issue because all I kept hearing is that you must allow God to choose a marriage partner for you. According to this place I know it is man's responsibility to FIND A WIFE FOR HIMSELF and not God...bla bla bla "
Shockingly to me he added:
"... Because Adam told God that the wife He gave him was the one who gave him the forbidden fruit to eat, God had decided NOT to give any man a wife again. He wants man to FIND by himself so that should anything go wrong, he would not blame God."

Error! As logical as that may sounded to a natural mind, it is not only a fallacy; it is a misinterpretation of scriptures and misrepresentation of the Almighty God. 
That is a subtle but deadly heretic teaching aimed at dissuading the millennial from relying on the integrity of God. No apology to wherever the source of that teaching might be.
There is no systematic theological proof for such teaching and there is no revelational proof anywhere. It is one of the private interpretation of scriptures which Apostle Peter referred to in 2 Peter 1: 20-21 "...knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

Immediately he finished, I realized that he was peddling some erroneous marriage teaching from a quarters in particular. I remembered I once heard a senior and well respected preacher said something like that jocularly before which I did not pay attention to but which had gone viral as pure marriage teaching among the youths.

🚨Searchlights on Proverbs
From the same proverbs I want to speak and correct such poisonous belief.
We all know that the foundation of any write ups is always set at the beginning. We must not overlook the root of Proverbs 18:22 in Proverbs 3:13.

In all your ways and acknowledge God and lean not on your understanding and he shall direct your path.

When I started out in the school of English grammar, my teachers told me that I should always pay attention to details. There is a word they taught me which I saw there, it is "ALL". As used in that verse IS A DETERMINER. Therefore, a determiner "ALL" must be followed by UNCOUNTABLE or PLURAL NOUN.

"ALL" means "the whole of something or every part of something"
"it is used for showing that everything or everyone else is included"
"Your ways" is in plural form and it is limitless.
Your ways include
Your eating ways
Your bathing ways
Your dressing ways...
Your marrying ways etc. 😍

All Your Ways
Has there been any man who is able to perceive the odour of his enemies?

Has there been anyone able to read what another man is planning on the writing pad of his heart against his neighbor?

I guess Samson was in such category of men when he found himself a very beautiful DELILAH. That was the highest his brain and eyes could afford him.
Beloved Brother and Sister, lean not on your own understanding.

See this and know that the interpretation given to it was not what was meant for it.

Proverbs 19:14
...prudent wife is from the Lord.

From who? Not from man's brain but from the Lord. 
So, if man can find for himself just a wife why does he need to be told again that a prudent wife is not the one he just picked in the street or in the ball room?

Isaac, Your Wife will be Brought to You
This is my personal testimony about the reality of divine direction in marital affairs. I knew early enough that I would be God's mouthpiece and I started early to pray because from the time I became born again, I was taught the subject of waiting on God for direction.

The time I was praying I saw one of the sisters in our campus fellowship and because of the way she was revealed to me I held to it strictly but I had earlier taken step of telling her but before she gave me her answer, I was appointed to the office Fellowship Executive President.
The most important rule was that if you are not engaged before your appointment, you must not be during the period of your tenure of office. So I waited until the term was over. However, I had developed strong love for her.

As soon as I passed the office mantle I took step to hear from her. Mind you, it wasn't a secret affairs at all. I confided in my spiritually sound friends who were helping me in prayers too.
But to cut it short, she refused to accept my hand. Painful though but I later heard from her confidant that she knew it was God who led me to her but she wouldn't want to marry a Pastor (I later heard that she said that the way I was going I was heading in the direction of becoming a Pastor and there is very little or no welfare package for full time Pastors in those days).

I didn't find it easy at all because I was convinced of the direction I got from God. Then, I learnt the first hard lessons of my life about divine direction.

Reality Lesson 1: God does not force His will on anyone at all. It was my first experience to be in love and I met with a bottleneck.
In fact, I thought it was finished for me maritally since she had refused my proposal. Thank God for Godly friends who surrounded me. They were very helpful and encouraging. They knew how it felt because I have never been involved in any emotional issues as such in my life.

Getting over the shock, I intensified my prayers on the subject of connecting the God-ordained spouse for me. So, what happens to the previous one? I learnt the second and the third lessons of my life on this subject:

Reality Lesson 2: God is not limited by persons. He has reserves of genuine persons for every individual.

Reality Lesson 3: Also, He has the power to remove the missing bone or part of mine in the previous person and put it in another who He deems fit for me provided I didn't rebel against His choice for me.

All these I learnt in the place of prayer.
One day, I was fasting and praying on this issue and His word came clearly to me as God came talking to me. He asked,
"What is your name?"
When God is asking for my name, I knew he was not asking to know it. So I answered him thinking, "Isaac, you know my name Lord"
"Do you know the Isaac of the bible?" He asked further.
"He is one of my favorite bible characters" I answered
Then came the serious issue as He asked me, "How did he get his wife?"
I answered thoughtfully, "His wife was brought to him while he was meditating on the field"
God replied me as if he was satisfied with my answers, "Good! From now on, you should not pray about who to marry except you are praying for others who are going through what you are going through"
So I asked, "Why?"
"the same way Rebecca was brought to Isaac, so shall your wife be brought to you"

The fourth lesson came from that encounter.
Reality Lesson 4: what you prayed to happen for others, God will make to happen for you.
It was a powerful truth I have helped people see and it has ever been working for them. That was it.

However, before this encounter with God, a senior friend had told me to stop praying about it but there was no clear explanations or instructions on it.
It took me faith to live by that instruction from God. Then came a faithful day in 2009, I was in the bacony of my residence when a friend came calling from downstairs. Actually, it was a time my traveling Evangelical ministry was in dire need of staff which we have been praying for.

He was coming upstairs while someone was following after him as he announced, "Evangelist Isaac, you have a guest!"
Let the guest come upstairs with you. As I looked up from my table I saw a damsel coming behind him. The only thing I remember was that as soon as I saw the lady, a butterfly flew within me and I got some goose bumps over me. I couldn't trace the reasons for that.

My friend BROUGHT HER INTO MY HOUSE. That day she collected the membership form and completed her registration at the same time. A date was fixed for her interview. She was interviewed and thereafter became a full member of the ministry. On certain occasion, I wanted to remind God of His good promises He reminded me of His last instruction.

The next thing that follows was for him to ask me how she was brought to me. "A friend brought her of course" was my answer. Fast forward, September 12, 2009, she agreed she would marry me. It was a dream come true. October 16, 2003 we were in court for the court wedding. October 18, 2003 we were in her father's house for traditional wedding and thereafter the same morning, we headed to the church for the blessing of God upon our union. Today, we are still in courtship.
Divine direction in marital affairs is real. God will guide you.

Sound 🔊 off 📴

How has God been real to you in marital choices? Share with us and your testimony could be a lifeline to a drowning soul.