All My Heart

Monday, February 15, 2010

There is a school of thought that says it is possible to love your husband more than you love God. It says it is possible to make an idol out of your husband. Logically speaking, this line of thought holds that it is actually possible to sin against God by loving your husband.

No way. I don't think so.

Eve's overwhelming desire for her husband may have been something God explained to her when He leveled the Curse against the snake and the ground, but He never said it was a sin to desire Adam.

He said Adam would rule over her.

In the head-of-the-house sort of way. In the Eve-you'll-submit sort of way. In the half-of-your-heart-walking-out-of-the-door-every-morning sort of way.
...

I'm guest-posting at Deidra's blog today. Head on over to Jumping Tandem to read just exactly what I wrote about this whole "loving your husband more than God" thing.

I'll give you a hint: I can't love him enough...





(Image © Informal Moments Photography)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

ahh.
so nice.

Unknown said...

Love it, love it, love it!!

Sally Ferguson said...

A timely reminder for Valentine's Day! It's good to celebrate life with my spouse and soul-mate. And it's good to be reminded that I don't have to apologize for that relationship. It takes work, but that work cements the commitment to each other!

Lyla Lindquist said...

Kelly, all true enough. I love what you're saying here. It's not a competition for your heart.

We can't over-love, assuming love is really the thing we are doing. As our love for Him grows, our love for him grows as well. And I believe it works in the reverse as well.

But where it gets messy? Maybe you can add something to this for me. That word "desire," used in God's detailing of the curse. The word is used three times in Scripture, only three. The lexicons will tell you it refers to a man's longing for a woman, a woman's for a man, and a beast's longing to devour. (See Strongs 8669.) It appears in Genesis twice and Solomon uses it once. God tells Eve in Gen. 3:16 her desire will be for her husband. Seems innocuous enough. And in Song of Solomon 7:10, a conversation between lovers. Again, all good.

But Gen 4:7? It's sin's desire for Cain. Ugh.

I'm never quite sure what to do with that one. It's clear from your post you've pondered this notion of desire for a while. Any ideas?

Danielle said...

A great post, Kelly. We can never love enough, if we're loving with God's pure love.

I would say my interpretation of "desire" in this passage is a bit different, and relates to what Lyla's saying, as I've studied it from various sources. The source I'll quote here is from my ESV study Bible since it's the one at my fingertips:

"These words from the Lord indicate that there will be an ongoing struggle between the woman and the man for leadership in the marriage relationship. The leadership role of the husband and the complementary relationship between the husband and wife that were ordained by God before the fall have now been deeply damaged and distorted by sin. This especially takes the form of inordinate desire (on the part of the wife) and domineering rule (on the part of the husband). The Hebrew term here translated "desire" (teshuqah) is rarely found in the OT. But it appears again in 4:7, in a statement that closely parallels 3:16--that is, where the Lord says to Cain, just before Cain's murder of his brother that sin's "desire is for you" (i.e. master Cain), and that Cain must "rule over it" (which he immediately fails to do . . . .)"

It goes on in more explanation of that Hebrew word but that's enough for here.

Anyway, I just thought I'd throw that quote out there. I thought it was interesting, since it brought up the Cain thing that Lyla mentions too. I find this stuff so fascinating!

Hannah C said...

:) Very nice. Have you read Christina Rossetti's sonnets "Monna Innominata"? This reminds me very much of 6, which ends:

"Yet while I love my God the most, I deem
That I can never love you overmuch;
I love Him more, so let me love you too;
Yea, as I apprehend it, love us such
I cannot love you if I love not Him,
I cannot love Him if I love not you."

Post a Comment

Talk to me, if you like.