The beginning of a biblical and blessed husband is his love for the Lord. A husband who loves the Lord delights himself in the HIM and has the desire to be obedient to His commandments. Then he will be able to love his wife as Christ loves his bride the church.
Delighting in the Lord can never be without obedience to God’s commands. You cannot have one without the other. When a husband delights himself the Lord, the Lord’s law (commands) are written on his heart and his delight will also be in the law as well.
1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
Psalm 1:1-3 ESV
A husband should take an honest look at himself
Do you delight yourself in the law of the Lord and do you meditate on His law day and night?
Be honest with yourself and make an honest assessment of your devotion to the Lord and His word. The man who delights in the love the Lord will be like a man described as a tree planted by streams of water, that yields fruit, whose leaf does not wither, and all that he does he prospers.
What does delighting in the law of the Lord look like? How do you know if you are already doing or not?
This is for you to inquire of the Lord and ask Him in prayer for wisdom and direction by His leading.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Do you delight in reading the Bible and knowing it?
- Is it something that you need to do every day in order to be connected to God and have a strong relationship with him?
- When you read the Bible, does it feel like a chore or something that would rather not be doing?
- Or is it a desire every day of your life?
You should address all these questions in your heart and see where you are with the Lord. As you ask God for Him to show you where you are lacking, He will be faithful to show you where you can grow.
Truthfully, all believers are to read the Bible every day. Just like the Israelites, when walking in the desert being led by the Lord, He fed them with manna (bread) from heaven (Exodus 16). Each day, the Israelites were to collect enough manna for the entire family to eat just for that one day and no more. If they collected more manna and try to store it up for the next day, it would spoil and no longer be edible. The Lord was calling on the Israelites to trust in Him that he would provide for them every day and not rely on themselves.
“4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.”
Exodus 16:4 ESV
Same with believers today, we are to rely solely on the Lord and not on ourselves. Each day we are to gather our manna from the Lord just as the Israelites were. Our manna is God’s word and we are to read and eat from His word every day. Do not think that what you read yesterday is good enough for today. Go out each day and read more of God’s word and be filled each day from His daily bread.
31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
John 6:31-32 ESV
Remember how John 1 said that “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God”?
John goes on to say that the word became flesh and dwelt among us in verse 14. The word becoming flesh was the word becoming Jesus Christ and walking among us. The true bread is Jesus Christ who is the Word (bible) and gives life to the world. God wants us to daily eat of his heavenly bread by reading the Bible and delighting ourselves in it and his son Jesus Christ.
As a husband delights in the law of the Lord by reading his Bible daily, God’s righteousness will come upon you and you will receive blessings from Him. You will also begin to understand what it means to love your bride as Christ loves His bride. Once you learn how the Lord acts towards you, forgiving, loving, caring, serving, sacrificing, and leading, you will be able to do the same for your bride.