Where below "Bride" and "Groom" are indicated Pastor Manuel
inserted the names of the individuals being married.
As a minister, I have had the privilege of officiating at several wedding ceremonies, most of which involve couples first starting a journey with another person. Despite the fact that in premarital counseling sessions I attempt to prepare couples for some of the challenges they might encounter, especially as they get to know each other better, I am aware that there will be many things only experience will enable them to face successfully. Consequently, I sometimes wonder if they will make it together.
Bride and Groom enter this union with the experience that eases my mind considerably. Moreover, having seen them together, I have little doubt that they will do well, although I cannot be absolutely sure, because they are usually on their best behavior in church when I see them. Nevertheless, I am more confident of their success and happiness, especially as I have noted their commitment to God as well as to each other.
They asked me to choose a biblical passage that I thought appropriate for the occasion. I considered Gen 2:18 where, after creating Adam...
The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone."
...but my wife's modified translation of that verse, which she is fond of reciting (especially to me), always comes to mind. According to her version, and with a certain inflection, after creating Adam...
The LORD God said, "This is not good; I cannot leave this man alone.
...which implies something else.
However true that may have been in my case, there are some men who are able to function without supervision. Knowing that Groom is quite capable, I decided to select a different passage, three verses from Ecclesiastes:
Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if [an adversary] can overpower [one] who is alone, two can resist him. (Eccl 4:9-12a)
Here Solomon mentions some of the practical benefits of life with another person, life that marriage exemplifies, beginning with the general assertion that a couple can work together to accomplish a common goal, a mutually beneficial goal, one that yields "a good return for their labor."
Bride and Groom, you will have opportunities to work on projects together that have the prospect of "a good return," in fact, a better return than anything you might attempt alone. Perhaps it is that missions trip you have been considering. In any case, it is certainly not just one thing. You will work on many things together, and whatever those projects might be, the outcome will be better because you will be involved together:
Solomon then lists three situations illustrating the truth of his equation that "two are better than one." Keep these in mind as you look to the future.
- Two means you are not alone, so there is another to help support you.
If either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion.
- Two means you are not alone, so there is another to help comfort you.
If two lie down together they keep warm.
- Two means you are not alone, so there is another to help protect you.
If [an adversary] can overpower [one] who is alone two can resist him.
In these few verses, Solomon extols the advantages of life with another person, life that marriage exemplifies. All three situations he cites concern physical threats, but the principle Solomon offers—"two are better than one"—applies to other challenges as well, be they emotional or financial, even spiritual. Bride and Groom, whatever threatens one is easier to face, easier to overcome, because you do not face it alone.
It is curious that Solomon revises the equation at the end of his list. After extolling the advantages of two, he adds another.
A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.
Solomon does not explain the reason for this revision, but Bride and Groom, you would certainly agree that the essential third party in your marriage is God, and that no matter what situations challenge you, He is that third strand who can hold you together. He is that third strand who will strengthen you, and sufficiently so for any challenge. May God bless you both in your union together.
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Jim Skaggs