Almost 50 years ago, I committed a sin that my husband reminds me of at least 2-3 times a month. I was not a Christian at the time. After almost 50 years of marriage, he still is very angry, drinks a lot, and cannot let the past be forgiven. God has, but my husband won’t. He has beaten me up, and caused lots of hard feelings in the family. Our children and grandchildren stay away because of him. The only reason I’ve stayed is because he cannot make a living for himself due to damage caused by drinking and smoking. I don’t know if it’s OK to leave because of abuse. What do you think?
There’s nothing in the Bible that requires you to remain captive to this kind of situation. Living apart from your husband and refusing to enable his abusive behavior might be what it takes to snap him out of it. You don’t have to divorce him to do this, and as long as your intent is to facilitate forgiveness and reconciliation, you won’t be out of favor with God.