When the devil is allowed to come between a husband and wife, their marriage will begin to become like a wilderness. Proverbs 24:30-32 says, “I passed by the field of the sluggard and by the vineyard of the man lacking sense, and behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles; its surface was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked and received instruction.” When a garden is neglected, it quickly starts to become overgrown. You don’t have to sow weeds, thorns, and thistles into a garden because they will come up by themselves. If you pass by two houses and see that one of them has a beautiful garden and the other has a garden which is overgrown and looks more like a wilderness, you wouldn’t assume that the beautiful garden got there automatically. The man with the beautiful garden must have laboured and took pains to make it beautiful. In contrast, you wouldn’t assume that the man with the overgrown garden put in a lot of effort to make it like that – his garden became a wilderness through neglect.
The same principle applies in marriage as well. If you see a beautiful marriage, you can be certain that it didn’t become beautiful automatically. Both husband and wife worked to make it beautiful. It is impossible for any marriage to become like a beautiful garden without both husband and wife pulling out weeds and watering it regularly. In contrast, if you neglect your marriage, it will become like a wilderness automatically.
If you are not careful, the devil will come into your home like a robber – slowly but surely – to destroy your marriage relationship. It won’t happen overnight. A wilderness doesn’t develop in just two or three days. You may imagine that all is well, but if you neglect to cultivate your marriage, it will definitely become a wilderness over time.
What if your garden has already become a wilderness? Let’s consider how a wilderness can be restored into a garden again.
God gives us two great promises. The first is Isaiah 51:3 - “The Lord will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord.” What a wonderful promise that is! Ask the Lord to fulfil that in your life. If you don’t ask, you won’t get it. James 4:1 says, “You do not have because you do not ask.” Ask the Lord to restore your wilderness into the Garden of Eden as He has promised.
The second promise comes from Ezekiel 36:34-36, “The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by. They will say, `This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden.’ I, the LORD, have spoken and will do it.” This speaks of a marriage which is so bad that even people passing by could see its state. But God says He will restore even such a messed-up marriage, and those who saw it as desolate will say that it has now become like the garden of Eden.
After reading these wonderful promises, it’s important to remember that you will not be able to restore the wilderness of your marriage into a garden without the help of the Holy Spirit - not by marriage counselling techniques or by reading many books, but only through the help of the Holy Spirit. God has promised us his Holy Spirit in Ezekiel 36:26: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh; I will put My Spirit within you.” In Genesis 2:10, we read that there was a river that flowed through the garden of Eden. That river is a picture of the Holy Spirit flowing through the middle of our marriage-garden, making everything fresh.
When we acknowledge our helplessness in restoring our wilderness into a garden and we cry out to God for help, He will help us! Psalms 127:1 says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain who try to build it.” All our labouring to restore our marriage into a garden will be in vain unless the Lord helps us. And even if we have a garden currently, we will be unable to protect it from becoming a wilderness unless the Lord guards it.
How is it in your marriage relationship today? Is it a wilderness? Have you given up hope that your marriage can ever be restored to a garden? Do you say, “It is impossible to have a garden with the partner I have”? That is exactly what the devil wants you to say. But we must never give up hope. Now that you have seen God’s promises of restoration, claim them by faith for your marriage. Ezekiel 36:37 says, “Thus says the Lord, I will wait until they ask Me to do it for them.” It is only when we ask God that He will do it for us. So, you must come to the Lord and say, “Lord, I believe you can do this in my marriage! I won’t give up hope.”
