“…your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” Genesis 3:16

I Want, I Want, I Want

Walk His Way Revisited

Have you ever heard these words come out of your mouth to your husband? “I want you to be home more, I want you to care more, I want you to help out around the house more, I want you to want to….” I want, I want, I want…

From Genesis 3 we see that part of Eve’s curse was that, ”your desire shall be for your husband” and that Adam’s curse was to have to work hard toiling the ground just to have it produce thorns and thistles. Isn’t this still true in our lives today?

Husbands feel pressure to be the head of the house, to provide financially and spiritually for their families. Some respond to that pressure by doing nothing; others respond by working hard to provide and lead but never feel like it’s enough. Work brings on more work—thorns and thistles. The work never stops, the satisfaction never lasts.

Wives work hard too—we help, we share the load, we understand, we love, we accept, but still the words “I want” come out. For some, those words are uttered and fall on deaf ears, and bitterness grows. For others, those words bring a change, and life feels great… but before you know it, that feeling of wanting more from them is back and those words are said again.

“Your desire will be for your husband.” A curse, indeed, to want something that you’ll never truly be able to get. Let us fast forward from Genesis to Matthew, to our Savior dying on the cross, taking this “curse” and saving us from it. His death and resurrection proclaim to us that we won’t ever be completely satisfied by our husbands, because of our sins, but HIS blood covers that curse and becomes the cure. HE becomes the cure. He became that which truly satisfies us, that which saves us. Our desire will always be for our husband, but will never be satisfied due to residual consequences of the fall. Only God can replace and satisfy that desire. Only God can redeem that curse. If we let Him. If we choose Him. If we focus our eyes and heart on Him.

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37). God will satisfy our desires, our “wants.”

If your heart is filled with bitterness because you’ve been saying “I want” for so long and nothing changes, release it today. Release that bitterness in your heart and free your husband and the expectations put on him. Search for the ways that God satisfies you and let HIM complete that desire in you.

If you find yourself in a cycle of saying “I want”, then see a momentary change and old habits return, break that cycle. Remember, he will never truly satisfy you. Seek God. His unconditional love for you is not inconsistent, it does not come and go like the tide; it is constant and it can satisfy you. Every. Single. Day.

God, we release all the ‘I wants’ we say to our husbands. We pray, Holy Spirit, that You would fill the desires in our hearts. We pray, God, to experience You in a completely new, satisfying way. We pray by doing so that we would become the helpers to our husbands that You have tasked us with. We thank You that only You can satisfy and that YOU DO satisfy. Amen.