This is another thing you do. You drown the LORD's altar with tears, weeping and wailing because he no longer accepts the offerings you bring him. You ask why he no longer accepts them. It is because he knows you have broken your promise to the wife you married when you were young. She was your partner, and you have broken your promise to her, although you promised before God that you would be faithful to her. Didn't God make you one body and spirit with her? What was his purpose in this? It was that you should have children who are truly God's people. So make sure that none of you breaks his promise to his wife. "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel. "I hate it when one of you does such a cruel thing to his wife. Make sure that you do not break your promise to be faithful to your wife."

Malachi 2:13-16

The most dangerous illusions of all are spiritual. In Malachi's time, men no longer saw the seriousness of the marriage covenant and were divorcing their wives without just cause. They were not seeing things as God sees them. We are all prone to this kind of self-deception. Sin clouds our ability to see right and wrong. Living under such illusions must be replaced by reality. And this can happen through hard times. Adversity and pain have a way of ridding our lives of falseness. We are then better able to fill the emptiness with truth. As we depend on God's Spirit to help us learn and obey the Bible's teachings, illusions are replaced by the truth of God's love and forgiveness in Christ. This is the only reality that truly satisfies the deepest longings of our hearts and leads us to a desire to be like Him.

To avoid being drawn into error,

keep a firm grip on the truth.

Our Daily Bread - December 31, 2002