The Strength to Submit

This is a section from Elizabeth George's book A Woman After God's Own Heart.

Do you know the main reason why we wives don't submit to our husband? God says it's fear. We are afraid of what will happen if our husband does things his way instead of our way. Clearly, underneath God's call to us to submit lies a much deepr, more fundamental call to live a life of faith in Him. "The holy women" of the Bible "who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands," and we can follow in their steps if we "do good and are not afraid with any terror" (I Peter 3:5-6, emphasis added.)

Faith is the opposite of fear (Mark 4:40), but how does faith fit with submission? It is by faith that you and I believe God works in our life directly through our husband. It is by faith in our sovereign God that we submit to our husband, trusting that God knows his decisions and the end results of those decisions, and trusting that God redeems, if not guides, those decisions. And so it is by faith in God that our fear is dispelled and we gain the strength to submit. As you learn more about submitting to your husband, why not ask God, as the disciples did, to increase your faith (Luke 17:5)? Faith in God gives us the strength to obey and submit to our husband.