Curious phenomenon going on here.....

It seems that lately everyone I know wants to "fix me up" with any unattached guy they know! I have said or done nothing to give anyone the impression that I am interested in this kind of "help."

While I appreciate the concern for my social life, I just believe God wants me to "stand" for my M.

Frankly, am getting weary in my stand while I watch some pretty good prospects pass me by! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="images/icons/shocked.gif" />

I would appreciate your prayers for me not to weaken in my stand, and for well-meaning friends to give this UP!

PLEASE, PLEASE Lord, TARRY NO LONGER.......I'm getting lonely, and tired, and sad, and weak ........ <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="images/icons/frown.gif" />

God Bless all.

LupoLady,

God's will for you will be my prayers for you. To stand strong in your walk with the Lord, that He may guide you on your path each and every day.

God Bless,

D.

P.S. Yesterday during my prayer time, I was directed to the following in the Bible: Jer 8 - The part on Sin and Punishment. Here's what stuck out to me ... v 9-10 (NKJ) .....Since they have rejected the work of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have? Therefore I will give their wives to other men and their fields to new owners. .....

I am the one thinking of initiating dv and when I read that it certainly had an impact on me. I believe in marriage and that it is God given. When all is said and done, I don't know if I will stand as Charlene has at Rejoice Ministries (and others) Each day I ask the Lord what he has in store for me.

<small>[ December 08, 2002, 06:36 PM: Message edited by: WillGetThruThis ]</small>

I think I know how you feel!

I have one very well-meaning friend who has been trying to set me up for TWO YEARS now!

Don't worry about the "good prospects" passing you by...if you want to stand, then by all means stand for as long as you want to...no one can tell you if or when you are ready to move on.

Willgetthrough
Thank you so much for your prayers and thoughts.

I know I am feeling stronger due to your prayers! Also, the well-meaning friends usually come in "waves" about every 2 or 3 weeks. Since the latest one was just last Monday, I guess I'm safe for another week or so.........

<strong>cjack</strong>

Thanks so much for your encouragement!

Goodness! TWO YEARS?!?!?! I don't know......I certainly hope it isn't that long. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="images/icons/frown.gif" /> I'm not sure I could "hold out" and believe I "heard God right" after that long........

I kinda have a "theory." It's this: I believe satan works double OVER-TIME trying to pull us off our goals, especially when we are REALLY headed toward God's will. I mean His Perfect Will.

This always gets a dialog started....it's just that I believe God doesn't necessarily over-ride our free will, at least not like a bull-dozer. More like He manipulates our circumstances, till we have no choice but to BEND to His will for us, or not, in which case life just gets more and more messy (this is what happened to us, btw). But in the meantime, we may detour, while being enticed by the forces of this world. In that case, we might be on the fringes of ALL that God wants to give us to bless us, and not all that happy - wondering "Is this all there is?" - when we could be enjoying the BEST He has to give us. Well, the same can be true of a mate. I believe we are meant to be with ONE person, however, if we ignore the signals that that is the ONE for us (we might get div'd, or never accept that one person as our mate in the first place), then a second-best would be our lot. In that case, I believe we can be happy, but not fully blessed as we might be if we had been totally open to God's will in the first place.

Case in point: Several people I work with keep telling me they "envy" me my stand for my M, that they wish they had stood and waited, even tho they are now M'd to people they love very much, they wish they'd been able to reconcile their original M's. Some of the SAME folks who are trying to "fix me up" the last few days?!?! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Confused]" src="images/icons/confused.gif" />

Ah. well. In any event, thanks, all, for your prayers. I pray I can know and follow exactly what God wants me to do.

God Bless you all.

Lupo....I have a woman in my old sunday school class who got married soon after her divorce and she told me the same thing you are saying. She said she wishes she would have stood for her marriage. She knows wife and I and we have talked a lot about my marriage(she knows about the affairs) and she has actually encouraged me to do what God is telling me to do. Friends only mean well but they don't understand the deep love we have for our spouses. The unconditional love we have for them that no matter what happens we will put our marriage back together.

You know I am praying for you.

Love in Christ
cajunky

Hi lupolady,

I don't usually post on other threads besides 'toughlove', however; I felt compelled to reply.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Frankly, am getting weary in my stand while I watch some pretty good prospects pass me by! </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">" do not be weary in well doing, in due season, you will reap if you faint not"

As I'm sure you know, Satan will use anyone, especially friends and family members. And when you give up, he'll be in a corner laughing. It is my belief that you will not miss anything that God has for you. And he'll let you know when it's time to move on.

In all of this I'm learning patience, of which I never had. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" /> I was only married three years and haven't heard from my H in 5 months, but I believe God is in the midst. There is a battle going on that we can't see. And prayer is mighty.

I don't know if I could wait as long as Charlyn and Erin, but one thing I do know is, "All things work together for the good of those who love God, and are called according to his purpose"

Identify with the 'Word' build yourself up and never let the enemy think he has won. Cry if you must, get angry and in the end cry out to God. He is the only one that can help at this point. "With God, all things are possible". <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" />

God Bless You,
relady

dear ms. L,
i'm just wondering how it is that you can interpret God's will? or that any human can for that matter.

hummm, has it occured to you that it may be his will that your marriage end? is this not possible? and if so, then who are you, me or any one else to challenge that will?

i'm just wondering.
coach

Coach,

I know you addressed your question to lupolady. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" /> Please allow me to answer also. God's Will is His Word, if you know His Word, you know His Will for your life. If and when He wants your marriage to end, He will let you know. Until then one must find scriptures pertaining to their situation and stand on them until you see results, one way or another.

"A King's heart is as water in His hand and He turns it whichever way He pleases! Jonah has his own will and he ended up in the belly of the whale. Now, if a WS chooses to 'ignore' God as they all do, there will be consequences. So, I believe lupolady is standing until she clearly hears from God. And by the way, God hates divorce. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" />

IMHO,
relady

Lupo -

I admire you for your stand in this situation, but this is a topic that I have wanted to jump into for awhile.

I too have all the info. from Rejoice ministries and it apeals to my sense of if you have enough faith that it will happen.

However, this is what I have been told by many, and I am just wondering about your thoughts.

First, everyone has free will and while I LOVE the analogy of God putting things in our path to BEND people to His will as was given above - because I do believe that nothing is impossible with God, if these people (WSs) aren't being "bent" toward God, because of their free will, why is God allowing this and for how long will He allow it and does He want us to wait?

Ok, I just answered part of that question for myself.

I think that God is always working on each one of us to try and get us to heaven, and He will keep working on us even if it takes Him our whole lives.

With that being said, and knowing that God is good, why would He want us to live unfulfilled lives without spouse, just waiting and praying when we could be living full and productive lives with someone else.

Now I am not saying that we can't live wonderful lives being single of sorts and the WSs definitely need our prayers, but why couldn't we take the blessings and gifts the God has given us and then if that person wasn't right for us or if our WS was meant to come back - wouldn't there be something to turn the new person away so that we could be reunited with spouse?

And in all of those second marriages that were mentioned where the spouses said they should have stood for their marriage - were they the BS or the WS? If they were the WS it makes perfect sense, but if they were the BS maybe they have not come to terms with the reality that their former spouse would never have wanted to try to rebuild the marriage because they were exercixing their free will and they were NOT choosing the marriage. I think that if you don't properly heal from the first relationship you always think about the good times, you foret the bad and then fantasize about the way you wanted things to be instead of focusing on reality and the way things really are.

I so hope that no one is offended by all of these thoughts. I am just putting them out there for discussion because I want answers too.

And when enough people tell you something then who is to say that God does not work and talk through people? I think He speaks through the Bible but I also think He speaks to us through what is said to us by others by confirming what we already suspect in our hearts.

And in my situation, although I still mourn for the tragic loss of the marriage and pray for the conversion of spouse and his new wife, the reality is that I have seen God try numerous upon numerous ways to change the mind of ex, but ex's mind has not been changed. In fact, he has run into new marriage so fast to show everyone - including God, anfd just like in James Dobson's book Love Must Be Tough, ex has rationalized even God out of the equation.

Not to say that I don't believe that ex could change and divorce OW now wife, who are not married in the church as we are Catholic and our marriage is not even annulled, so in my eyes OW and ex and in the eyes of the Catholic church they are living in permenant and public adultery.

But, at this point, God has not done anything to get ex to really bend. And if ex is on his own journey to heaven, perhaps it may take ex years and years before he finally gets a clue.

So in the meantime, do I wait? Which I could do, but then what do I tell the children who want a new daddy and who need a GOOD ROLE MODEL for a marriage and a father for their own development.

And I am learning that marriage to ex was not as good as I had convinced myself it was, and that I may actually be better off without ex, although raising children in two households is truly a sin in my book.

So, I guess the bottom line is that if one keeps an open ear to God then they will know when it is time to move on. Is that it?

Because I know that I couldn't do it any faster than I did, and I'm still working on that.

I just wonder how long is too long to wait and when is temptation or maybe God trying to move us onto another path.

K

lupolady, I admire you for standing for your M. It's so hard to live by our faith.

I think God is in Control made some excellent points and asked some provocative questions:

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial"> I think that if you don't properly heal from the first relationship you always think about the good times, you forget the bad and then fantasize about the way you wanted things to be instead of focusing on reality and the way things really are...

And when enough people tell you something then who is to say that God does not work and talk through people? I think He speaks through the Bible but I also think He speaks to us through what is said to us by others by confirming what we already suspect in our hearts...

And I am learning that marriage to ex was not as good as I had convinced myself it was, and that I may actually be better off without ex...</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">These are issues we each have to struggle with and hopefully we will know in our hearts what we are being guided to do.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by lupolady:
<strong>
<strong>cjack</strong>

Thanks so much for your encouragement!

Goodness! TWO YEARS?!?!?! I don't know......I certainly hope it isn't that long. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="images/icons/frown.gif" /> I'm not sure I could "hold out" and believe I "heard God right" after that long........

</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Your very welcome. The funny thing is, he finally succeeded! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />

It was well worth the wait, btw. I wasn't holding out hope of getting my XW back...that fight has been over for more than a year now, but I was waiting until I was ready to start dating again.

However, Coach and GiiC bring up good points.

If you had told me two years ago that I would eventually realize that my XW wasn't really "the one," I wouldn't have listened. I was convinced that we were meant to be together forever, and I just had to wait until she came to her senses.

Then I came to my senses! Or if you prefer to describe it this way, God opened my eyes and showed me the truth of what was happening.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: Stand for your marriage, tell your well-meaning friends to shove off, but make sure that you are listening just in case God tells you "enough is enough."

Whoa.
A lot to think about in all these reponses. I'll try to comment on the ones that jumped out at me:

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">" do not be weary in well doing, in due season, you will reap if you faint not"</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Thanks for this "Word in Due Season" Relady. It's very true that we belong to our Lord. He has bought us, we are not our own. This also includes our lives, our M's. We are to be learning to "die to self" - and in so doing, we shouldn't really care if we are M'd or not! We should be concerned with "well doing" in order to further His kingdom. This is all that matters, anyway. If only we could live like this at all times, NONE of what is going on around us would really bother us! Too bad we're so caught up in our earthly lives all the time, that we can't look Heaven-ward, and see His Plan for our lives, from HIS perspective. The scripture you quoted reminded me of this.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by coach3530:
<strong> has it occured to you that it may be his will that your marriage end? is this not possible? and if so, then who are you, me or any one else to challenge that will?
</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">No, Coach, I do not believe it is EVER God's will that any M end. At least NOT by this method. I believe the ONLY way we are set free of our committment to the covenant we made is when one partner dies. This is part of what I was made aware of during my "search" for answers to why and HOW this could have happened to us - when H first left.

Let me just say that I ALWAYS believed I would be the strong one....the one who would "shake the dust from my shoes" and move on, if we ever split. I NEVER thought I would "hang in" like this!! It's not my nature. BTW, I believe my H could never think I'm waiting for him, either! He KNOWS I don't look back, I don't beg, or plead, or fall apart, etc. HOWEVER, God convicted me of my independence, my arrogance and self-reliance. I believe these lessons are part of what I had to go through in order to be humbled and broken. I was a contentious wife. No doubt about it. No good for ANY H, much less my good H. Yes, he IS a good H, just lost his way, was confused and depressed. No, a full-blown A was NOT part of our problems. Just "drifted apart" - certainly NOT grounds for divorce in ANY court (and definitely not God's court).

GiiC: </font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">why would He want us to live unfulfilled lives without spouse, just waiting and praying when we could be living full and productive lives with someone else.

Now I am not saying that we can't live wonderful lives being single of sorts and the WSs definitely need our prayers, but why couldn't we take the blessings and gifts the God has given us and then if that person wasn't right for us or if our WS was meant to come back - wouldn't there be something to turn the new person away so that we could be reunited with spouse?</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Interesting points, here, too. Yes, I believe we CAN and might live wonderful lives with OR without our S's. That's the point! NO NEED to be M'd in order to continue living and breathing. Secondly, I was never one to be part of the "Single CHristians" groups of our church....too busy volunteering my time and efforts in helping with youth, or Sunday School, or whatever. I remember friends telling me I 'needed to go on dates to find the one God had for me.' I disagreed then and I disagree now with this logic. Here's why: God knows right where I am!! He can bring my "mate" to me where ever I am, regardless of my circumstances. I don't need to worry, or seek it out, or I'll miss it. Didn't happen when I was younger. I guess I'm answering my own question now, too! I won't (can't) miss it now, as long as I am doing HIS WILL as known to me, and continue to seek HIM.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">why couldn't we take the blessings and gifts the God has given us and then if that person wasn't right for us or if our WS was meant to come back - wouldn't there be something to turn the new person away so that we could be reunited with spouse?</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I think the point here is that of course, God can do this! BUT - why put yourself in a position where you are "tempted"? In other words, why date, meet others, take a chance on "falling in love" - or have someone who is NOT meant for you fall in love with you? If you believe (as I stated above) that you are still M'd in God's eyes, you wouldn't be "dating" anyway, would you? This makes it perfectly clear for me.

Listen, you guys, I don't have all the answers. All I know is that I have chosen to trust God with the rest of my life, and at this point in time I believe that means WAITING, PRAYING for my H, who is running, running, RUNNING from God. He knows it. He believes he can run and run, and somehow stay one step ahead of God, and continue to live his OWN LIFE his own way. I know better. I know what he did was TOTALLY against God's perfect will for us. Can I convince him of that? Of course not! I tried.

So, I wait, and listen, and pray, and talk to God about it. And discuss it with my friends on MB.

Thank you, everyone for the interesting thread.
God Bless,

coach,

I would also like to comment on:

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial"> i'm just wondering how it is that you can interpret God's will? or that any human can for that matter.
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I agree with relady, in that if you know God's work, seek his face and pray, that you will be guided by the Holy Spirit to know God's will for you life.

Again I wanted to bring up these verses from an earlier post. This is something that I had never thought about in this context.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial"> Yesterday during my prayer time, I was directed to the following in the Bible: Jer 8 - The part on Sin and Punishment. Here's what stuck out to me ... v 9-10 (NKJ) .....Since they have rejected the work of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have? Therefore I will give their wives to other men and their fields to new owners. .....
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">It's the "Since they have rejected the work of the Lord .......therefore I will give thier wives to other men." <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="images/icons/shocked.gif" /> I am still sorting out where I really stand on this issue. I have seen in the Bible, where God hates divorce but permits it only in the case of adultry. I have also read rejoice ministries and others and hear their point.But what if we were the wives that the Lord gives to other men ????

Any thoughts or comments on this verse? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Confused]" src="images/icons/confused.gif" />

D.

Whoa, indeed! A couple of things jumped out at me, too!

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I do not believe it is EVER God's will that any M end. At least NOT by this method. I believe the ONLY way we are set free of our committment to the covenant we made is when one partner dies. This is part of what I was made aware of during my "search" for answers to why and HOW this could have happened to us - when H first left.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">You seem pretty confident in your knowledge of God's will regarding marriages. I wonder at that. To me, claiming to know for certain the will of any omnipotent being seems a bit of a step, if you catch my meaning.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">God convicted me of my independence, my arrogance and self-reliance. I believe these lessons are part of what I had to go through in order to be humbled and broken. I was a contentious wife. No doubt about it. No good for ANY H, much less my good H. Yes, he IS a good H, just lost his way, was confused and depressed. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">This is perhaps the most disturbing part of your post.

Pardon me for asking, but what crime is it to be independent and self-reliant? I would think that such qualities would serve you well in this difficult time.

And why, pray tell, do you feel you're better off if you've been "humbled and broken?"

Furthermore, I don't understand how you can make yourself out to be the guilty party, and a "no good" wife, while he's just "confused."

Perhaps I just don't know enough about your situation, but I utterly fail to see how you can be a "good" wife if you are dependent, humbled, and broken, while a "good" husband is one who runs off and divorces you.

This, to me, seems a bit backward. Perhaps I am reading things wrong, or you could explain how you arrived at these conclusions.

<small>[ December 11, 2002, 12:11 AM: Message edited by: cjack ]</small>

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by cjack:
<strong>You seem pretty confident in your knowledge of God's will regarding marriages...claiming to know for certain the will of any omnipotent being seems a bit of a step, if you catch my meaning.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Cjack,
Let me see if I can shed some light on my thought process for you:

Yes, I am confident in my knowledge of God's will regarding MY marriage.

I have prayed about this for over a year and a half. I have searched God's Mind and His Thoughts, through His Word, ALL of it. I don't think I ever read so much of His Word in such a short time as I have done in the last 18 months. In doing so, I think it painted a total picture for me of God's thoughts, and His Plan. It was as if I "saw" the whole picture, from Adam to the final trumpet, in one whole setting. I had never read the whole Bible through with that much clarity before. Over and over in the Old Testament, God's People turned their backs on Him, on His blessing, His covenant. God Himself wanted to walk away from the covenant many times, but He couldn't! He had set it up so that a covenant entered into with God CANNOT - under any circumstances - be broken, except by death. The marriage covenant was set up in order to show the world the kind of unity the bride - us - and the bridegroom - Christ - would have. That unity would never, could never be broken by anything that either party (but mostly the bride!! (Us in our human form) might do.

Also, I have had numerous sermons preached which, in my mind, corroborated what I felt God was telling me at each turn. Over and over again!

I have read messages from many sources (here, RejoiceMinistries, RestoreM., etc)...all of which I feel I have been led to by God's own Hand. The messages were always consistent with what I was reading in His Word, and always the same end conclusion.

I hope this helps clarify. I am not trying to shove anything down anybody's throat, so I hope you don't feel that way. This is just what MY sense of my life is.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Pardon me for asking, but what crime is it to be independent and self-reliant?
And why, pray tell, do you feel you're better off if you've been "humbled and broken?" </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Cjack,
I guess what I was trying to point out was what a terrible wife I was! In a sense, I almost can't blame my H for leaving. I ALWAYS had something critical and mean-spirited to say to anything nice he tried to do for me. That's not the way a wife should act. I see now that I should have been more appreciative of his efforts, as well as trying harder to meet his EN's. Isn't that what this site is all about? Pointing out how to "Fall in Love, Be in Love, and STAY in Love"? These are actions we can take to make sure of it, and I knew NONE of them, and did less than none of them.

OK, so I CAN blame my H for leaving! Yes, it's true he should have talked to me, tried to negotiate and work things out. But I guess he feels he did try, in his own way, or couldn't, cause I ALWAYS won an argument, so I guess he figured "What's the use of trying?"

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Furthermore, I don't understand how you can make yourself out to be the guilty party, and a "no good" wife, while he's just "confused." </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I think I meant that he (conjecturing, here), probably felt that he "had no choice" - that he had tried everything to get me to change....you know the rhetoric. Cjack, it's embarrassing to have to admit...there are other ways I was NOT meeting his EN's.....none of them. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="images/icons/frown.gif" /> Yes, he DID pull back himself. BUT only after repeated rejections by me. THIS is what makes me see myself as a "no-good wife."

His "confusion" is my opinion of HIS decision to simply divorce, instead of trying to fix what is clearly out of sync. I blame the enemy of God's People for this, sending LIES and decieving us into believing this is the best solution.

As far as being dependent, rather than independent, "humbled, broken" - I guess I really only want to be what GOD wants me to be. I KNOW He wants us (husbands AND wives) to be subject to each other, with no one member being more submissive or dominant over the other, beyond what God has set up. Being humble would involve being open to husband's leading, authority and head-ship of the family, a position given him from GOD.

The independent part was ME making decisions on which I wouldn't ask his opinion or input. If we are a team, then this is just not right. He is the Head of the Household, and I should give him MY input, and then leave the big decisions up to him. Instead, I made ALL the decisions, pretty much, and emasculated him in the process.

I hope this helps!

God Bless,

Originally posted by WillGetThruThis:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial"> Jer 8 - The part on Sin and Punishment. Here's what stuck out to me ... v 9-10 (NKJ) .....Since they have rejected the work of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have? Therefore I will give their wives to other men and their fields to new owners. .....
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial"><strong>It's the "Since they have rejected the work of the Lord .......therefore I will give thier wives to other men." <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="images/icons/shocked.gif" /> I have also read rejoice ministries and others and hear their point.But what if we were the wives that the Lord gives to other men ????
</strong>

WGTT,

OK, here goes.

You gave me something to think about with this scripture. I read this passage, and then I wondered, like you, where that left me, and tried to figure it out, too!

Basically what I did was read the passage all the way from verse 1 as I believe that's what we're supposed to do...look at the whole picture, not take any part of scripture out of context of other scripture, and here's my interpretation (remember I'm NO expert, that's for sure!):

The book of Jeremiah was written by the prophet as a lament that the people of God have turned their backs on God. Throughout the book, he is proclaiming God's judgement on the nation of Israel. He is prophesying a coming time of blessing, restoration and the New Covenant (obviously pointing to the coming of Christ as Savior).

Jeremiah is saying that God is displeased with the "Wise Teachers" - who lead astray the people who listen to them. They and the Israelites believed they were "The Chosen" and therefore had the Word and blessings of God, regardless of how they interpreted it, or acted toward God.

For this reason, and their many sins, God was going to abandon them, and "adopt" a new people (the Gentiles, through the acts of Jesus) and graft a new people to the remnant of the tribes of Israel to form what will become His Bride.

Essentially I read it to say that the "Wise Teachers" were only wise in their own eyes, and believed they were the chosen when they did not act in such a manner, so God GAVE THE BLESSINGS THEY BELIEVED BELONGED TO THEM to others, the "true" bride.

While this sounds "harsh" to us, looking at it without the benefit of the TOTAL picture, as God sees it, we do know it is/was all part of God's Perfect Plan, from the beginning.

This is all just my interpretation of that passage. I hope this is beneficial to your understanding, D.

God Bless,

Lupo...I just wanted to let you know I had a friend trying to fix me up tonite. I was at the gym playing racquetball with my usual weds. after church buddies when a friend stuck her head in the court and said " I have a friend I want you to meet when you are ready". She is a prayer partner with another woman friend of mine and they have been praying for me. I know she means well but I am like you. I just believe God wants me to stand for my marriage. While it is flattering, I am just not lead to do that. God will let me know when it is time.

Just wanted you to know you aren't alone.

I am sending that scripture to my pastor and getting his interpretation on it. It may take a couple days but hopefully he will answer my e-mail.

Love in Christ
cajunky

<small>[ December 11, 2002, 09:33 PM: Message edited by: cajunky ]</small>