We have all experienced it or closely know someone who has. A broken home is a terrible thing to endure. It takes a toll on every aspect of your life while you try and rectify the matter. You can often feel like you are alone, but this situation is no new thing at all.
In the garden God made a covenant with our first parents, Adam and Eve. This covenant is known as the Edenic Covenant and can be seen in Genesis 2:16-17:
The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
In this covenant, God gives Adam a promise. This promise was blessings from God and life. We know this because “the wages of sin is death” Rom 6:23, so keeping the covenant meant life, breaking it meant death. This covenant between God and man required obedience from Adam. He was commanded to not eat of the certain tree.
Adam failed, and failed miserably. The covenant was broken and they were sent from the garden. Adam failed his wife by not providing and neglected to watch over her. Eve failed her husband by listening to another. And both failed God.
This breaking of the Edenic Covenant is the very root of the broken family. Adam had no past experience to blame his broken covenant on like stress, finances, unfaithfullness, but he did blame his failure on the wife God had given him. When we experience a broken relationship in our home we tend to look back for a place to lay blame, the starting point where someone went wrong. But when we properly think of the origins of sin, we go back to Eden and that broken covenant.
This isn’t to say mistakes aren’t made within the family by individuals. No family is perfect because all people are fallen. But this can help us deal with a broken family correctly if we are willing to study scripture and identify the starting point.
The family structure is a covenant. It may be unspoken by the members but through God’s Providence every member has a knowledge of it and their roles. And God makes a covenant with the family. And like the case of Adam, we often fail to meet our end of the family covenant, sometimes ending in a complete break in the relationship.
I’m no counselor, but I believe our problems will always find answers through scripture. Adam failed to meet the requirements of the covenant and in shame he hid himself. We can be the same way with our broken homes. We keep it a closely held secret. But just like in Adam’s case, God knows our situation.
Showing only self interest, unloving, not willing to listen, not willing to talk, abusive, negligence, and countless other reasons can be found for broken families. These are reasons for hurt and cause distance in a family, but this doesn’t mean it’s permanent.
Although Adam failed to uphold his end, God still restored him and his wife. He hid in the bushes and God covered his nakedness. Undeserving but God cared and blessed him greatly.
God can do the same for a broken family. The covenant may have been broken but God can restore those relationships. We may feel like we must hide but God can bring us back into a proper relationship with one another.
We must realize what God demands of us, and in obedience follow Him and do as He commands. Through prayer and deep study of His word we can grow closer to God, and by work of the Spirit we can find peace, comfort, and healing.
Like Adam, we fail. We fail ourselves, we fail our families and we fail God. Thankfully when we fail to keep our end God continues to keep His. God instituted the family in the garden and has allowed us to grow as a people in a family unit. He has promised to bless us and will do just that. A broken home is not beyond the hand of God. A broken heart is not beyond the ear of God.
When we are hurt, confused and full of shame and hiding from His presence, He comes for us, to lift us up and restore us. A broken home now doesn’t mean a broken home forever. Pray for those you love, listen when they are hurt, talk when you are hurting, and trust that the Lord will mend all the wounds and bring your home back together.
No King but Christ 