Podcast: Download
Subscribe RSS
Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life. ~ Proverbs 13:12 ESV
On Tuesday, I pointed to this scripture and asked you to guard your wife’s heart from you. Today, I want to encourage you to guard her heart from others hurting her by never doing what they say they will.
One way to do this is to gently warn her when someone who has repeatedly failed her makes a promise. Something like, “I hope that happens, but her track record isn’t so good”. You don’t want to insult or attack folks, especially her friends, but a gentle reminder of past events can help her avoid hoping too much. The stronger form of this is to protect her from folks putting her in that situation. I knew a fellow whose wife had failed to conceive for years. Well-meaning folks were forever telling her they thought she was going to get pregnant. Her husband eventually let it be known anyone who said anything like that to her would have to deal with him. And he was a black belt!
Image Credit: © Paul H Byerly created with stockdreams.ai
Shop Amazon ♦ Shop to give links page
We’re donation supported Thanks for your help!
This post may contain affiliate links, see my disclosure for info.
A tough challenge at times, particularly if your wife is…er… *ahem* somewhat “independent” and doesn’t appreciate your efforts. I do what I can without offending her myself but it can be a tightrope walk at times. Other times I really wish I could threaten to use my self defense training to deter people but have to just stand ready to hold her and listen to the heartbreak later as she puts the pieces back together.
I suspect this is how we are with God at times. How many times has He wanted to protect me but I wouldn’t accept what He was offering? Oh, it doesn’t usually look quite like that. It’s usually more of hesitating to do something I’m not sure I want to do (or not sure I CAN do) or to refrain from doing something I really want to do. It may seem so trivial until whatever He was trying to protect me from happens. Then I get “an aha moment” coupled with shame and regret.
No, I’m not saying I have anywhere near the wisdom our Heavenly Father has or even that I am wiser than my wife. Sometimes it just helps that I’m not directly involved and can see things from a different perspective. I’m quite certain this scenario goes both ways to some degree. I hope I listen to my wife better than she seems to listen to me…though I’m not sure that I do. We are both quite human and rather “independent” at times.