God's initial instruction to man was that one man should marry one woman and become joined together (Genesis 2:24). The obvious intent was that it should be for life as Christ reiterated in Matthew 19:4-6 when He said that married couples should stay together. Jesus went on to explain that there are valid reasons for divorcing a mate—specifically sexual immorality (Matthew 19:9). God also preserved the teaching of the early New Testament Church that if a member is married to someone who is not a believer, and the nonbelieving person leaves or indicates he or she doesn't want to continue the marriage, the member is not required to remain married. Certainly abusive situations would fall into this category as well. God hates divorce (Malachi 2:14-16) because it always involves some other complications or ramifications, but He does not expect people to remain in a marriage if their safety or the safety of their children is at risk.