The Perfect Spouse

​A Biblical Fiction Short Story

There was once a beautiful young bride. Her husband loved her. When they married, he promised her that one day they would have a lovely home of their own and he would provide her everything she could ever need.

In the early years of their marriage, her husband provided just enough to make ends meet, and they constantly moved from place to place. But the wife trusted her husband would keep his promise to her.

Then the day arrived, and he brought her to their new home. It was everything he had promised her. Not only that but all she wanted was at her fingertips.

However, she had a problem. Her husband was perfect. He did not have a single flaw. She was not perfect. The more time they spent together the more she realized how imperfect she was.

One day while her husband was away on business, she noticed a young man pass by the door of her home. He stopped and talked with her. She realized that the young man did not expect her to be perfect. He did not expect her to change for him as her husband expected of her. 

Sometime later, her husband returned from his trip to find his wife and the young man alone in his house. Her husband was furious. She was surprised to see her perfect husband angry. After throwing the young man out, he said to her, “What have you found wrong with me that you have not remained faithful to me?”

The next day the young man again walked by her door. She invited him in. The husband returned from work later in the day. Walking through his home, he passed by their room to see the two of them together. 

To her shock, her husband divorced her. So, she went to live with the young man. She sold her jewelry, that her husband had given her, to buy gifts for her lover. Years went by and she moved from lover to lover, growing more and more discontent. 

One day while walking down the main street, she was intercepted by her lender. He demanded payment. She had no money, and she begged for time. The lender consented but warned it was the last time her payment could be forestalled and the next time the balance would be required in full.

She went from friend to friend, but none would give her anything. She went to the house of her lover. He did not answer. She went to the man she had known before that and before that. None would help her. Finally, she came to the door of the young man. He answered his door. When she said who she was, he laughed and replied that she, a dirty prostitute with matted hair and dressed in rags, could not be the beautiful young woman he had known so long ago.

Now she found herself on the old familiar street of her husband’s house. She remembered her husband, the perfect man she had left. Never before had she realized how far below him she was, how imperfect. As she turned to go, she saw her husband walking towards her down the street on his way home. He was walking with her lender. 

The two stopped her. The lender demanded payment. Her husband asked what she owed. When told, he left and went into the house. Returning, he gave the lender the deed to the house to satisfy her debt. The lender took it and left.

He asked her, “Will you leave your life and come back to me to be my wife?”

“How can I ever make myself good enough for you,” she asked, “Why would you give up anything for me after what I did to you?”

“Not because of who you are but because of who I am. Come back to me, and I can again make you perfect in my eyes.”

So she returned to her husband whose name is Love.

---

God’s Marriage Story

​“I remember how eager you were to please me
    as a young bride long ago,
how you loved me and followed me
    even through the barren wilderness. (Jer. 2:2)
“What did your ancestors find wrong with me
    that led them to stray so far from me? (Jer. 2:5)
  Is there any place you have not been defiled
    by your adultery with other gods?
You sit like a prostitute beside the road waiting for a customer.
    You sit alone like a nomad in the desert. (Jer. 3:2)
Yet you say to me,
    ‘…you have been my guide since my youth.
5 Surely you won’t be angry forever!
    Surely you can forget about it!’
So you talk,
    but you keep on doing all the evil you can.” (Jer. 3:4-5)
“O Israel, my faithless people,
    come home to me again,
for I am merciful.
    I will not be angry with you forever.
13 Only acknowledge your guilt.
    Admit that you rebelled against the Lord your God
and committed adultery against him
    by worshiping idols under every green tree.
Confess that you refused to listen to my voice.
    I, the Lord, have spoken! (Jer. 3:12-13)

​All through the prophets, we hear God repeat this story. In it, He casts Himself as the husband and His people as the unfaithful wife. We are His people. It is uncomfortable for us to live so near the perfection of God because it shows how imperfect we are. Day by day we must live in the purifying light of God, repenting of our disobedience to Him, and then putting on anew the perfect righteousness He gives us.

Her Perfect Spouse

$1.00

The man she married was literally perfect! But did they have a perfect marriage? Well...maybe it was still a bit rocky.

The short story is available to read for free on the Blog page. This eBook format is available for those who want to download the story in an easier to read version.

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Her Perfect Spouse AUDIO

$2.00

The man she married was literally perfect! But did they have a perfect marriage? Well...maybe it was a bit rocky.

Audiobook read by the author

Time: 5min 43sec

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