She was treating these teenagers like toddlers.  I wonder how the Blackstone boys are doing today.  I don’t know.  But I wonder.

God does not treat us like that.  He is not the overly-protective parent.  He is going to expose us to the elements.  Why?  So we can grow.  That’s a good thing, a wonderful thing, a Biblical thing, a spiritual thing.  Those skaters, to become great skaters, as I talked about, they have got to go through some cuts, bruises, and bumps and falls, and loose some contests, get some experience under their belt, and then they are awesome.  The same is true in our life of faith.

“Perseverance must finish it’s work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything.”  What am I driving at here?  I will tell you what James is going after, cooperation.  We have got to cooperate with God’s maturing process.

I grew up around a family named the Blackstones.  They were a nice family, but a little bit different.  They had three boys, three Blackstone boys, Rip, Fred and Lawton.  Don’t you love those names?  We walked down the street and played football with them.

Now, with the Blackstones you always had to play touch football, which is fine with me.  The Blackstone boys were almost teenagers and their mom watched every move they made.  She was in the kitchen window watching us play football.  One day, Rip went out for a pass and Fred, his brother, kind of elbowed him a little bit.

Rip hit the turf and kind of whimpered a little bit.  All he had to do was whimper for a second, and the front door flung open with Mrs. Blackstone in its wake, “That’s all for the day.  It’s over.  Boys, come in.  You mean neighborhood kids, you go home.”  I was thinking, “Wow, talk about overprotective.”

Well the Bible says “Just stay married.”  So often we bail out right before this incredible breakthrough.  Many times in life we’ll throw in the towel when we should stay in the game and receive the benefits of marriage.

In Genesis 2:24 we have been looking at this text, it says, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother, he shall cleave to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.”

Again, that’s the math of marriage, one plus one equals one.  One, oneness. The number one is an integer, it’s a whole number.  When we’re together in marriage we have this wholeness because God is into wholeness and holiness.  When we bolt on a marriage, what do we do?  We’re becoming a fraction of what we should have been.  We’re becoming a fraction of what God wants us to be.  And there are too many people who are living lives of fractions as opposed to wholeness.

So I would challenge you to just stay married because of your wholeness.  And in your wholeness, in your integrity, you’re going to discover the holiness that God has in store for you.  Because the road to holiness has a lot of holes, a lot of potholes along the way.  Because every single person who has ever been married has thought, “Man I want to get out of this deal.  Man, it’s too tough.  Man, it takes too much work to just stay married.”

But today I want to argue God’s case.  I want to tell you why God wants all of us to just stay married.

Now some of you here have been divorced and I’m not at all saying that divorce is the unpardonable sin.  I’m not saying that whatsoever.  This is a place of grace.  God forgives sin.  When you get married again, which many of you will, I would challenge you to resolve to just stay married.

One plus one equals one.  That’s the math of marriage.  Today I’m going to talk about something little bit unusual.  Yes, I’m talking about marriage, but I’m going to talk about marriage in sort of a different way.  I’m going to revolve everything around a three‑word statement.  It’s a challenge to every marriage in the house.  It’s a challenge to those of us in marriage who have thought about bailing, who have thought about throwing in the towel.  It’s a challenge to those here who might be a little bit board in this relationship.  It’s also a challenge to the people here who one day will get married.

And here is the three-word phrase I’m going to talk about.  It’s very simple.  It’s easy to say; it’s difficult to apply.  Are you ready for it?  Just stay married.  Say it with me like you mean it; I’m talking about from your gut using the best your vocal chords can possibly be to say this statement:  Just stay married.  Say it again:  Just stay married.

That’s right.  Why should I stay married?  That’s a good statement.  That’s a good thought.  Why should I stay married?  Because after all, there are so many attractive options out there these days.  After all, our culture is very anti-marriage.  Why should I stay married?  And some of you who are married are thinking, “You mean I have to live with this person for the rest of my life?  You mean I have to travel with this person for the rest of my life?  You mean I have to hear their ridiculous stories for the rest of my life?  You mean I have to sleep with them for the rest of my life?  This rest of my life stuff, I don’t really dig it Ed.  I’m not sure I have can make it.  What if a new and improved model comes along?  It is so easy to get a divorce.  I can just call the lawyers up, they can pick up the pieces and I’ll hook up with someone else and that’s just the way it is.”

“If you will.”  Now take that and put that in your mind for a second.  If you will.  Lord, if it’s your will.  That’s what prayer is, isn’t it?  “God, not my will, but your will be done.”  Do you remember in the garden, what did Jesus say?  “Father, not my will but your will be done.”

She put it in God’s hands.  And here is what’s so exciting.  The entire nation was asleep. Hannah, though, was awake to the voice of God.  She was awake in prayer.  She knew how to talk to God.

Also, this girl knew how to get her praise on.  I mean, she got her praise on.  Read 1 Samuel 2.  No one, though, can recite it like Maria.  That was Hannah’s prayer of praise.

Also, Hannah understood her priorities.  She understood it was about God, and then it was about her family.

So here is what we have.  We have Hannah praying.  Hannah is at Shiloh.  She’s on her knees in the morning asking God for a child.  Then she’s saying, “Lord, if it’s your will.  Lord, if it’s your will.”

She was awake to the voice of God.  Now enter our boy Eli.  Eli, Scripture says, is sitting on stool.  Eli is the high priest.  He is supposed to be God’s anointed and appointed.  He is sitting on a stool and Eli is watching her and Eli thinks that Hannah is drunk.  You have to kind of laugh; you’re talking about someone asleep at the wheel!  Not only was Eli asleep at the wheel, but his two kids Hophni and Phinehas were wheels off.

So Eli is the high priest, and Hophni and Phinehas were following in their father’s footsteps, they were priests.  Eli didn’t know this, let me let you in on a secret the Bible says. He didn’t know this, but Hophni and Phinehas were abusing the sacrificial system.  And you know, you don’t abuse the sacrifices of the Lord.  You don’t play around with the holiness of God.  They were doing that.