WISDOM FOR LIVING DAILY DEVOTIONAL
JULY 26, 2026
TOPIC: REJOICE IN THE WIFE OF YOUR YOUTH
BY T. O. BANSO
“Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth” (Proverbs 5:18 New King James Version).
Many marriages are in trouble today or have ended because partners fail to stay committed to each other. The couples are attracted to other people instead of remaining faithful. Spouses compare their partners to other men or women and fail to appreciate each other. Some married people are deceived into thinking that the people they have not lived with are better than their current partners!
Also, some are seduced by beautiful faces or so-called sexy bodies and become unfaithful. No matter how much some wives dress and try to look attractive, their husbands are dissatisfied. They lust after young women, considering their wives old! Such husbands forget that their wives were not old when they married them. Nor are these husbands as young as they were when they got married.
Some men have made foolish decisions to marry a second wife because they want a young, beautiful lady, or for other selfish, unbiblical reasons. Indeed, some major Bible characters in the Old Testament, such as Jacob, David, and Solomon, were polygamists, causing many troubles. However, this was not the order in the beginning when God instituted marriage. God’s original marriage design was monogamy: one husband and one wife. He gave Adam only one wife: Eve.
A man turned his hitherto peaceful family into a battleground after marrying a second wife. The spiritual atmosphere of the family was polluted, and strange things began to happen even when she wasn’t living with them. The family suffered different afflictions. After some time, the man fell ill and died prematurely. By this time, the woman had acquired much from him. Today, the man’s name is mostly known through the woman, although he had children before he married her. I can’t remember if the woman had any children with this man. How could a man destroy his own family after God had been good to him and he had accomplished so much in life!
Cleave to your spouse. And I am not talking about staying with an abusive spouse who can cause your premature death through domestic violence. In such a situation, you need a break for the aggressor to regain his sanity and for the matter to be resolved. God has called us to peace (1 Corinthians 7:15).
You don’t have to die at the hands of a violent man when what God says is that husbands should love their wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her (Ephesians 5:25). And God also says husbands should love their wives and not be bitter toward them (Colossians 3:19). God didn’t say husbands should beat their wives! Neither did He say husbands should break their heads!
The same is true of wives. God says wives should submit to their husbands, as to the Lord or as is fitting in the Lord (Ephesians 5:22; Colossians 3:18). God also says wives should be submissive to their husbands so that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives (1 Peter 3:1). God didn’t say wives should kill their husbands or harm them. Unfortunately, some married men and women have been killed by the partners they once said they loved. This should not be so.
Marriage is a lifetime commitment. Partners should be faithful to each other. Stick with your wife and don’t be sexually attracted to other women. There are these two phrases in the Bible: the wife of your youth and the husband of her youth. The first is used twice (Proverbs 5:18 and Malachi 2:14) in the New King James Version. The latter is used once in Joel 1:8.
Proverbs 5:18 says, “Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth.” This is one of the keys to a long-lasting marriage. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. The Contemporary English Version puts it this way: “Be happy with the wife you married when you were young.” Don’t abandon the wife of your youth, the wife you married in your youth, just because she is now old! Nobody, including you, will be young forever. No matter how a woman beautifies her face and dresses up, she cannot prevent the ageing process.
In the days of the prophet Malachi, the people of Judah were unfaithful to their wives. They divorced their wives just because they wanted a change and married pagans. They did as they liked and asked why God didn’t accept their worship.
Malachi 2:14-15 says, “Yet you say, ‘For what reason?’ Because the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously; yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth” (New King James Version). Note the phrases “the wife of your youth” and “the wife of his youth.”
God considers it treachery when a man divorces the wife of his youth for unbiblical reasons and marries another woman. There will be consequences for anyone who does so. Some have already suffered or are suffering the consequences. Why must you bring trouble to your home? Proverbs 11:29a says that whoever troubles his own house will inherit the wind.
Stick with your wife. Cleave to the wife of your youth. Genesis 2:24 says a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. Rejoice in the wife you married when you were young. Don’t change your wife! Be faithful to her.
Also, be faithful to the husband of your youth. The phrase “the husband of her youth” is used in Joel 1:8 to describe how God wanted the people of Judah to lament—lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. A woman or a virgin painfully laments the death of the husband of her youth because of her deep love for him.
Be faithful to your spouse. Avoid devices that will put your life and home on fire. “Behold, I have found only this [as a reason]: God made man upright and uncorrupted, but they [both men and women] have sought out many devices [for evil]” (Ecclesiastes 7:29 Amplified Bible). Rejoice in the wife or husband of your youth.
TAKE ACTION!
If you are not born again, you must give your heart to Jesus now. Please take the following steps: *Admit that you are a sinner and you cannot save yourself, and repent of your sins. *Confess Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. *Renounce your past way of life—your relationship with the devil and his works. *Invite Jesus into your heart. *As a mark of seriousness to mature in the faith, start attending a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching, and Bible-practising church. There, they will teach you how to grow in the Kingdom of God.
Kindly say this prayer now: O Lord God, I come unto You today. I know I am a sinner, and I cannot save myself. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to save me, and God raised Him on the third day. I repent of my sins and confess Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. I invite Jesus into my heart. By this prayer, I know I am saved. Thank You, Jesus, for saving me and making me a child of God.
I believe you have said this prayer from your heart. Congratulations! You must join a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching, and Bible-practising church where they will teach you how to live your new life in Christ Jesus. I pray that you flourish like a palm tree and grow like a cedar of Lebanon. May you grow into Christ in all things and become all God wants you to be. I will be glad to hear from you. The Lord be with you.
PRAYER POINTS: Holy Spirit, help me to be faithful to my spouse. I shall rejoice in the wife (husband) of my youth and not be treacherous. No strange woman shall destroy my home in Jesus’ name. My home shall not become a battleground; God’s peace shall continue to reign in my home. I pray that husbands or wives who have abandoned their spouses will repent and reconcile with them.
(For over 900 in-depth and powerful messages by T. O. Banso, visit www.cedarministry.org).
T. O. Banso is the President of Cedar Ministry International, Abuja, Nigeria.
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