Marriage is a very important matter to God. He is the one who first instituted and celebrated the first marriage ever, and He knows how to make it work.
One common trend we see nowadays is that after the wedding ceremony, couples can end up spending less time with each other, quickly jumping back into their careers, personal pursuits or friends. But God wants newlyweds to invest more quality time with each other after the wedding.
Deuteronomy 24:5-6 says, "If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married."
It's all about establishing good foundations
Divorce usually happens when one person in the marriage becomes dissatisfied with their spouse. While God hates divorce and separation (see Matt. 19:6), man's hard-headedness paved the way for Moses to allow it (see Matt.19:8). Still, God gave Moses one of the most important keys to preventing any kind of marriage separation from happening: good foundations laid early in the marriage.
A long-lasting happy marriage can only be the result of a deep, God-centered foundation. And similar to how construction workers put a lot of effort into excavating and making deep foundations for high-rise buildings, a newlywed couple has to put a lot of serious effort into making good foundations if they want their marriage to last "til death do us part."
Prioritise your marriage
So why did God say that newly married men should not be given any duty for one year? This doesn't mean that the newly married man is given an excuse to be lazy in the guise of pleasing his wife for a whole year. Rather, it simply means that a new husband should be willing to prioritise his marriage and his wife more than his job, career, responsibilities or duties - in short, himself.
Remember 1 Timothy 5:8, and realise that a man who does not provide for his family "has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."
There are also some attitudes and characteristics that only show up after the blissful courtship and wedding season ends. Committing to focus on your relationship on the first year of marriage will enable you to understand each other and make adjustments so that you could serve each other better.
What about the wives?
Of course, following what Jesus said in Matt. 7:12, the wife should also make their husbands happy. When wives take Deut. 24:5-6 out of context, they might expect that it's only the man who should put the effort into prioritising their marriage. God, of course, expects the husband to lead the relationship, and has commanded them to love their wives as Christ loved the church. Wives, on the other hand, should respond in kind.
Indeed, nothing beats establishing a Christ-centered happy home.
