Marriage 101

One time during the first year that my wife, Wendy, and I were married, we decided to go for a hike. We ended up in the middle of Victory Bog, a large swamp in northeastern Vermont. We didn’t have a trail to show us the way out, and I had not brought a compass. (This was long before the personal GPS or cell phone.) Everything looked the same in every direction. All we could see was water, trees, and marshy ground all around us. I led us in the direction I thought would lead us to safety; however, in reality I was leading us deeper into the bog. After what seemed like ages of trudging through muck and mire, we realized the sun was beginning to set. In final desperation, I turned around and led Wendy in the one direction we hadn’t tried. My sense of direction told me that was the wrong way, but we were running out of time. In a short time, we came to higher ground, and before long we out of the bog. My sense of direction had been leading us away from where we really wanted to go the whole time.
Marriage can sometimes feel like our experience in Victory Bog. You think you know what marriage is all about, and you think you know what you should do. You keep trudging along, doing what you’ve been doing and you end up feeling more and more lost. Many people get so confused and lost in their marriages that they give up and leave their relationships.
When we were lost in the bog, one thing could have helped us find our way out. If I had a compass, I would have easily found our way out of that swamp. I knew that we needed to head west to get to high ground; however, I had no way to determine which way was west. A simple compass would have given us direction and given us a proper perspective on our position.
We need a proper perspective and understanding of marriage. God has already given us the perfect compass to guide us in our marriage. His compass enables us to properly understand marriage as He designed it. That compass is God’s Word. Through His Word, God enables us to have a correct understanding of the marriage relationship.