God gave man a woman to be a compassionate helpmeet, friend, lover, and heir with
him in the grace of creating new life. But one dark day, Eve listened to the serpent
in the Garden of Eden. She tasted the "forbidden fruit" and then gave it to her husband.
Together, they inherited the "curse of death."
When God walked through the Garden in the cool of the evening that somber day, He
found His two favorite creatures hiding and shivering in the nakedness of their sin.
In a voice that struck dread in the heart of that first woman, God said to her: "Thy
desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee" (Genesis 3:16).
This command still stands today amidst ERA and society's "Independent Woman"! We,
as Christian women, must still adhere to the Word of God!
The wife obeying her husband began here because God saw that the woman was good for
man. God's perfect creation required order from the beginning of time. There is a
Chain of Command: God, Christ, man and then, woman. Our position in the Chain has
nothing to do with our worth to God. It is no shame or dishonor for a woman
to be under authority. A woman is subject to her husband, but she can go directly
to God to ask anything she needs or desires and receive it as quickly as if she were
a man. "God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth
him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted of him" (Acts 10:34, 35). God
hears the prayers of a godly woman. The man does not need to be "puffed up" because
he stands above the woman in the chain of command. Paul explains this in I Corinthians
11: 7-12.
With the husband being first, and the command being, "a wife is to obey her husband,"
this does not mean that the husband and the wife cannot talk about ideas they both
have and through prayer come to a conclusion that is well-pleasing to each other and
to God. There is no place for boasting from the man or the woman; each has a blessed
and a unique responsibility and purpose in life that the other cannot fulfill.
God's Word is clear when it says: "Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ,
so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything " (Ephesians 5:24).
This is a plain command from God. The wife is to be subject unto her husband, just
like the church is subject unto Christ. The husband/wife relationship pictures the
holy and sweet relationship between Christ and His bride (Christians). Christ's love
for the Church caused Him to give His life for it. "While we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). The Scripture states: "...so let the
wives be (subject/obedient) in EVERYTHING." Wives, we ought to be willing
to obey the commands of God. But, you say, this is not easily accomplished. Of course
it is! With the help of Christ, ALL things are possible. Philippians 4:13 tells us: "I
can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
Wives, if you are looking for peace and contentment, then OBEY! If you want to love
your husband with an everlasting love, then OBEY! God would not make a command for
you, one of His children, and then make it hard for you to obey that command. He says: "My
yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:30). Trust God and be the
obedient wife God wants you to be. Take Him at His Word and obey your husband. Then
allow Christ to do the rest in you through the Holy Spirit.
After 35 years of marriage and 27 years as a black pastor's wife, I know the blessing
of trusting the Holy Spirit to help me obey my husband. It has been the "key" in my
life and marriage. I would like to recommend a book on this subject that revolutionized
my life many years ago in relation to obedience to my husband. This book is entitled: Me,
Obey Him? By Elizabeth Rice Hanford. Please read it with an open heart and
a willing mind, believing God will bless.
