D E A R   C H U R C H ,

The abandoned wives in your community have experienced the trust-destroying damage of unkept promises and vows. The ground beneath her feet feels shaky as she questions who and what to trust. The most living giving gift you could give her is the full counsel of Scripture. 

The grass withers, the flowers fade,

but the word of our God remains forever.

(Isaiah 40:8)

Her marriage withered, and her vows faded, but the word of her God remains forever. It is vitally important for you to remind her that the Word of God is unchanging and trustworthy. 

She does not need verses ripped from context or simplified into platitudes. In our culture of just “be still” and “all things will work together for your good”, she needs to hear a deeper message, a fuller story. 

Dear Church, commit yourself to teaching the Word of God in its complete and perfect wholeness. Do not pick and choose verses you think might bring her comfort. Call her mind to the overarching message of the Bible. In so doing you will remind her of creation and with it, the true picture of God’s heart towards marriage. In the story of the fall, she will see the reasons for the wrongs done against her and the first echoes of hope. In the gospel, she will find the root of redemption and the price paid to make her whole. And as the Word looks forward with glorious hope for the consummation and fulfilment of every promise, she will have fresh faith to look forward to brighter days and purpose in her pain. 

You may be reading and thinking, well, I’m not a pastor or Bible teacher, so I guess this post is not for me. Oh friends, we all need to invest ourselves in the ministry of the Word! Colossians 3:16 says, Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. This verse is calling us to let the Word take root within our hearts to such a full level that it makes its home within us. As we gather with one another, that living Word will spill out to those in our community. We can speak the Word to one another. As we gather to sing biblically rich hymns and songs, we testify to the One who will never change. As we teach and admonish (which means to advise or urge earnestly) we come to know the nature and character of God. We all have the responsibility to encourage one another with the Word. 

We can start with simple steps like praying Scripture, reading the Bible alongside a hurting woman, and sending verses or chapters that have personally encouraged us. We don’t have to be on staff at a church to encourage with the Word. 

The abandoned women in your midst need to remember that there is One who promises and fulfils. One Whose words will never fade, change or shift. Dear Church, we do this by committing ourselves to being people of the Word–studying, memorizing, sharing and living Scripture in our day-to-day lives. And as we gather, we call one another to hope. Firm and eternal hope as found in the precious Word of our unchanging God.