This week, we’ll begin by praying around the truths found in Proverbs 18:22: “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.”   If this verse is God’s view of marriage, then we need its truth to be revealed to Christian men (and women). I heard a story about a single man in his mid-thirties who didn’t appear to have marriage on his mind. His small group leader challenged him to pray about it. He did. And he prayed specifically about the single women at his church. Turns out, there was one who caught his eye. And last year, he married her.   I’m not sure...

If marriage is God’s will, won’t He just bring it about whenever He sees fit? Isn’t that what His sovereignty does?   Let me share three truths of sovereignty that I’ve learned from reading stories in the Old Testament:   1. People can make choices that are contrary to God’s will. 2. God works in the lives of people who walk with Him in faith, no matter how godless their society or disappointing their personal circumstances. 3. Even when circumstances are contrary to His will, He still accomplishes His purpose through them and, maybe, even because of them.   God may desire for all...

Is it God’s will for us to get married?   Generally speaking, yes. Take yourself back to the book of Genesis, where we get to watch the creation of the world unfold like a play on center stage. In the beginning, everything is dark and shapeless. With each scene, the world takes shape: light, stars, sun, dry land, trees.   The story builds with a sense of some grand climax to come; God isn’t just randomly creating things left and right. He’s preparing for something. That something was the creation of Man, set in the center of the garden.   Everything he needed to live and breathe was...

Happy New Year, lovely single woman!   I’ve been thinking a lot about you as the year begins, about the circumstance of prolonged singleness and the various responses you and I have to it.   As I’ve been researching and writing about this topic over the last year, I’ve had a variety of responses to it myself. But the overwhelming question in my heart has been, What can I do about it?   One idea is to pursue marriage. There’s nothing wrong with doing that in a godly way, as the Spirit leads. But one thing I believe. I can “work on” myself as a woman so I can be a godly wife. I can put...

No, it’s not the cookies, presents or parties. It’s not favorite holiday traditions, music or movies.   But it is everywhere.   It is the increased opportunity to hear God speak.   After all, Christmas is His story. And every year, in the carols and cards, programs and performances all over the country, His story and the Scriptures are proclaimed  publicly. Even NPR makes the story, through Handel’s gorgeous Messiah, freely available for online listening.   But the story of Christmas is not static. Nor is God’s message through it. God’s voice is never lifeless, His Word never...