Willingness is the first step!

Those are the words that I heard from God this morning when I was praying.  I don't know how many times I've shook my head in disbelief and even disgust at how messed up I still am,  after 6 years of the Lord working on me.  I am REALLY struggling with the "obey" and "submit" parts regarding wives.  Ooh,  there are a thousand excuses NOT to obey like "He doesn't lead"  or "He doesn't deserve it"  or "He won't do the right thing" and the list I'm sure could go on forever if I got some help adding from some of you Ladies.

The ONLY excuse TO obey is because our Lord commands us to.  That's pretty much it.  How valuable should that "excuse" be to us?  Whom,  if not God,  deserves complete obedience?  God leads, perfectly.  God deserves it,  undoubtedly.  God does the right thing,  always.  My will is strong,  too strong in my opinion,  but God has shown me that the strength of my will isn't the problem-  the direction of it is.  If I can get my will to be aligned with God's will then not only will my life be easier,  but the lives of my husband and children will be happier and more peaceful as well.

There's no getting around verses like these:

Ephesians 5:22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church.........Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 

Colossians 3:18  Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

Titus 2:3 ....train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands so that no one will malign the word of God.  (the KJV uses Blaspheme instead of malign)

1 Corinthians 11:3 The head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is man and the head of Christ is God.

Proverbs 14:1  The wise women builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears it down.

Proverbs 31:12  She (wife) brings him (husband) good, not harm, all the days of her life.

1 Peter 3:1-2, 5-6  Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands, so that, if any of them do not believe the Word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.  For this is the way the Holy Women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful.  They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her Master.  You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.

I still cringe when I read these words.  Isn't that dumb?  God deserves my obedience to him- he deserves everything and who am I to say No?

I've often thought about how easy it is for me to submit to another's authority,  even if that person isn't competent or worthy, in my mind.  Maybe it's a boss at work who is clueless, selfish and mean.  We still obey the orders at work and if he tells us to do something that turned out to be a mistake,  we don't sweat it. He's in charge and he made the wrong decision.  Maybe it's a woman leading something at the church.  We might not like her and might even think that she's not the best one for the job but we'll do what she asks,  without a second thought.  If she makes a mistake,  we don't get all bent out of shape.  We write it off as her responsibility,  her poor choice.  We may give our opinion,  if we think a poor decision is being made but then leave it up to the one in charge to decide.  WHY can't we grant that same respect and courtesy to our own husbands? My guess would be our own fear.  Fear that his decisions will harm us or our children but do we really trust God that little?  Isn't our God big enough to right any wrong that is done?  Isn't our God big enough to lead our children in the right path?

The last part of the verses in 1 Peter say "do not give way to fear"  God knows this is why we have trouble being submissive and obedient to our husbands.  Fear.   When he (our husband) sets a poor example at home,  we fear the effects it can/will have on our children.  When he spends money unwisely,  we fear the financial hardships that may come from it.  When he watches things on tv that are questionable,  we fear that our children will think it's ok.  Bottom line is We Fear. God says don't fear,  trust him.  Maybe the problem we face is not the inability to submit to authority and obey that authority,  maybe it's our inability to let go of our fear.