This week’s devotional topic is a stretch for me to write for several reasons, not the least of which is that I am not a husband. How can I begin to write with authority about men? When I did a word search for “husband” on BibleGateway.com, I came across a passage in Numbers 5 about how to test allegations of adultery that reminded me more of the Bene Gesserit “Water of Life” test in Dune than something that we would actually implement in this day and age. Now, don’t take that to mean that I find the Old Testament irrelevant, because I don’t—it is just challenging to me sometimes to understand how to apply timeless Biblical principles in a culturally meaningful way.

One thing we need to remember when we read the Old Testament is the different sort of relationship that God had with his people before Jesus walked the Earth. From the edict in the Garden of Eden not to eat from one particular tree to the 10 Commandments issued to Moses to the litany of dos and don’ts by the prophets, the Old Testament is very rule-oriented. God had a covenant (an agreement, a promise) with his people and gave them chance after chance to obey, but they consistently disobeyed. (That part still sounds familiar today, doesn’t it?)

In Jeremiah 3, for example, God describes the people’s idolatry as a form of adultery. Ah, so the Old Testament isn’t just about rule-following, but the Lord is trying to make a connection between how we treat each other and how we relate to him. His desire for his people was so intimately personal that when the people strayed, God felt deceived. The rules were set into place so that the people would recognize their sin and turn to God.

The book of Hebrews in the New Testament refers to Jesus as the go-between of a new covenant—a new type of relationship—with the Lord. The law that used to bind and condemn us was fulfilled in Christ (John 3:17, Romans 8: 1-4). How wonderful it is that we no longer have a merely rule-based bond with God, but because of Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf, we can know God lovingly, as we would nurture an intimate relationship with a spouse. Let’s focus on getting to know him better during our prayer time this week.