Voices In The Garden

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘did God actually say, ‘you shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” Genesis 3:1 (ESV) “You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3 (ESV)

It’s so easy to listen to other voices than the voice of God. We are visible to each other, and while God, who is our Father in heaven, is invisible, He is ever-present but unseen by the naked eye; maybe that is why we have a tendency to seek and listen to other voices first instead of listening to the voice of God.

In the Garden of Eden, Eve knew the voice of God, her Creator, yet she allowed another voice to infiltrate and penetrate her and her husband’s beautiful intimacy with God in the garden. We sometimes do the same things in our marriages, and if we’re not careful, these voices can sometimes become idols in our lives. Many of us in our marriages have another voice that’s giving us direction and is navigating our lives, and it has nothing to do with God’s voice nor His will for our marriages. “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.” Proverbs 12:15 (ESV) “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.” Proverbs 15:22 (ESV) While there are many scriptures talking about the importance of counsel from other persons, it’s important to seek God first so that He can direct you and your spouse to whom the counsel should come from.

It’s important that the primary voice in the garden of our marriages is the voice of God and it’s equally important that it’s His wisdom and direction and no one else’s. Sometimes, the Lord allows other voices to be a test to see if we will obey Him or them. I have seen how quickly I fell into idolatry over the years and didn’t even know it. When I look back over my life, I have seen how I neglected the voice of God in my marriage, and I sought other voices, and God reminded me of how much He is a jealous God. While the Spirit of the Lord dwells in those who give wise counsel, His Spirit also dwells in us and our husbands. In essence, seek God first and listen to our husbands. There have been times as a wife, I just thought I was super-spiritual, and so holy, and I wasn’t submissive to the voice of the priest of my home. I didn’t see the value of my husband, and it caused strife in my marriage for a long time. I thought he was the problem, but it was actually me. I wanted him to serve, read, study, and meditate on the word of the Lord the way I did. It was all pride and self exaltation on my part and I allowed the voices of others to come and help cultivate our marriage and it almost destroyed us.

I forgot the order of God; I was out of His divine alignment. The moment I came to myself and began to change some things, I saw and benefited from the wisdom of my husband. I am so blessed to be married to an encourager, a man who sees much but says little. A kind and loving husband who is a wonderful father to our children. I have learned many lessons and have seen the many mistakes I made, and it has taught me to wait, be still, and listen to the voice of God. When He is quiet, don’t move, wait still for His voice, you will soon understand why He is quiet. He wants us to learn to trust His voice in the stillness and develop patience in us. This is hard! I’m still learning to trust God’s voice in the silence and wait for Him. He is worth the wait. It saves us from mistakes and heartbreak. It keeps us from pride and idolatry.

Daughter of Fire, if you’re single, wait on God, learn His voice. Like Adam, walk with God in the garden in the cool of the day. Don’t date just to date. You’re not weird because you’re still single. You’re special and beautiful, and God is going to honor, bless, and grant you the desires of your heart, but be still, serve the Lord with gladness and wait. Daughter of Fire, if you are married, I beg you not to allow other voices to infiltrate the garden of your intimate relationship with God and your spouse. Remember your vows before the Lord and many witnesses, it was just you and your husband repeating them to each other. Seek God’s counsel before any other counsel, and He will direct you on who and when. Daughters of Fire, don’t make the same mistakes I did, being arrogant, conceited, and filled with pride. I actually love being submissive to my husband. Being submissive isn’t being weak, but it takes God’s grace and strength to obey Him and submit. When we have learned to be submissive to God, we can then learn to submit to our spouses and those in authority over us. Daughters of Fire, I love you, and I want you to thrive in all of your relationships, especially your relationship with God and your husband. I want you to have beautiful, godly marriages. I want you to love God and your spouse the way He intended you to do so. Daughters of Fire, I am praying for you, your marriages, and families. You are blessed and highly favored. You are the apple of His eye. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. May the Lord God grant you the grace to hear, listen, and obey His voice. I love you, but Jesus loves you most!