There are many Christians who give terrible excuses for why they want a divorce. Right when it gets a little hard they want to call it quits. If this is how you are feeling right now please seek biblical counseling, but most of all you must pray and fast not only for God to change your spouse, but for yourself as well. Marriage helps with sanctification so sometimes it won’t be easy, but you must not run away when it gets hard.
Did God tell Hosea to divorce his adulterous wife? No He said, “go show your love to your wife again.” It is always for better or for worse. Did God leave us when we sinned against Him, went astray, and when we were unfaithful to Him? No, He brought us a Savior Jesus Christ. Do you not see that we are a reflection of God?
My fellow Christian if God didn’t leave you through the worst times, but showed His love for you then, who are you to leave your spouse when it gets a little tough? Always remember that God loves you and He can fix any relationship. Boldly seek Him in your time of need. Don’t say you want to fix your marriage but you do not seek God’s face daily.
1. My husband / wife is an unbeliever or was never truly saved.
1 Corinthians 7:12-14 “To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.”
1 Peter 3:1 “Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives.”
2. My husband / wife is addicted to pornography.
Joel 2:12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”
Proverbs 11:14 “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”
Proverbs 13:10 “By insolence comes nothing but strife, but with those who take advice is wisdom.”
3. We are just so incompatible. We always argue.
James 5:16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
4. I got married to the wrong person.
1 Corinthians 7:17 “Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches.”
5. My spouse just doesn’t love me anymore.
Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
6. I don’t love my spouse anymore.
Ephesians 5:33 “However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”
Colossians 3:19 “Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.”
7. I would be happier without my spouse.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
8. My spouse would be happier without me.
Psalm 55:22 “Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.”
James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”
9. We don’t have sex anymore.
1 Corinthians 7:3-5 “The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”
Matthew 18:15-16 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
10. We / I wasn’t ready for marriage.
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18 “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
11. I love someone else.
Romans 13:14 “Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.”
Genesis 2:24 “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.”
12. This can’t be God’s will for me.
John 15:10-11 “When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!”
James 1:2 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.”
13. I need to commit to the ministry.
1 Timothy 5:8 “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
14. God doesn’t care. Jesus Christ died for my sins.
Malachi 2:16 “For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with wrong,” says the LORD of hosts. “So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.”
Romans 6:1-6 “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.”
15. This is not what I was expecting.
1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
16. Our marriage is not real.
Matthew 19:5-6 “And he said, ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.”
17. I want to pursue my career / dreams.
Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
18. Marriage is too hard for me.
Romans 8:28-29 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”
19. I wasn’t serious with my vows.
Numbers 30:2 “If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.”
Proverbs 20:25 “It is a snare to say rashly, “It is holy,” and to reflect only after making vows.”
20. I prayed and God wants me to divorce.
1 John 4:1 “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
