Love, Honor and Cherish

“Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.” (Proverbs 5:18-19).
When God gives a man a godly wife to be his helpmate, he should rejoice in her all the days of his life. When a man and woman marry, they make a covenant before God and men to love, honor and cherish one another until death separates them. They become one flesh when they unite in sexual union, and a spiritual bond is established. “Therefore
shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24). “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” (Matthew 19:6). God hates divorce, and he hates when men mistreat their wives and take them for granted. In Israel, during the time of the prophets, men divorced the wives of their youth so that they could marry younger wives. (This is not a new occurrence.) “The Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.” (Malachi 2:14). These men dishonored their wives and themselves by not cherishing the gift God had given them. “Whose findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord.” (Proverbs 18:22). There is nothing wrong with enjoying the sexual pleasures that God has ordained for husbands and wives; however, we should not view our wives as mere sexual objects for our own gratification. God instructs husbands to be ravished always with her love and to love her as Christ loved the Church. This kind of love is unconditional and eternal. God enables us to have this kind of love for our wives.