I am by nature a submissive person, give me a rule and I will follow it. Just don't ask my husband. I find it easier to submit to people who are not actually around to tell me what to do. I pay taxes. I follow the traffic laws even when no one is looking--except when the speed limit is unreasonable. I submit to God's will--as long as He doesn't disrupt my life too much. If I'm not good at submitting to my husband, it is his fault for being so agreeable most of the time. I haven't had enough practice.
In 1 Peter 3, Peter urges women to use Sarah's submission to Abraham as an example. Sure, I thought, Abraham, the friend of God, even I could submit to Abraham. But then I remembered that not once, but twice Abraham's instructions for Sarah to claim to be his sister bought her what could have been a one way ticket to a harem. Good old Abe traded his wife for his own safety and God had to intervene to save her and the messianic line. Sarah submitted as she was being removed from her home and husband. If I were in her place, the look I would have given him after the first incident would have prevented the second one.
In verse 6 Peter nailed the submission problem on its unsubmissive head. The reason women don't submit is not because we are stubborn and willful, although we are, it is because we are afraid. We are afraid that our husbands are not looking out for our best interest. To be honest, sometimes they are are not. Certainly Abraham was not when he told Sarah to lie. Sometimes we need to submit in spite of our husbands. Even when our husbands are not looking out for us, God is. He will take care of us and we want him to take care of our husbands. At least that's what I submit.
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