The Quiet Spirit of a Godly Woman

I am one of those incredibly blessed men who is married to a very godly woman. I see Jesus in her in so many ways, every single day of our lives together.

When Peter wrote of the attributes that a woman who is seeking to follow Jesus should have, he referred to the women of the Old Testament who exhibited these wonderful character traits in all their behavior.

1 Peter 3:1-6 “Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel—rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.”

Notice the context of Peter’s instructions here. The topic is not a woman submission to her husband, that is the subtopic. The object of Peter’s encouragement to a woman is towards the bad or incorrect behavior of her husband.

Many times a man, or as in the case here in these verses, a married man. Often we can be less than God has called us to be. Men are naturally more abrasive and rough in their words and behavior than that of a woman. Men stray often from the godly walk that they should be displaying to their wife, children, friends and co-workers. Men find it difficult from time to time to stay in the Word and to spend quality time with the Lord from where they can draw their spiritual strength.

A woman on the other hand is more of a nurturer. Women are much more gentle and considerate. They are naturally more giving and kinder than a man by their very nature. When a man is rough with his wife, or displays behavior that is unlike Jesus, she can become very hurt and dissapointed.

How should a wife respond to her husband when he is wrong? What should she say or do to help him get back on track?

Peter says that she should be quiet and gentle and say nothing to her husband. Praying instead for her husband, trusting him to the Lord to correct him when he is wrong. When she does this the Lord takes notice and He finds this kind of response and behavior “Very precious”.

Then Peter uses the example of the women in the old testament who also had men who from time to time also were not correct in their behavior, treatment of their wife, or obedience to the Lord. When the Lord told Abraham to get out of his country, away from his family and go to a place that the Lord would show him, Abraham packed his things and left. Shortly thereafter, a great famine took place over the whole earth and instead of trusting in the Lord to be his provider, Abraham panicked and went to Egypt where he heard that there was enough food to take care of their needs.

When Abraham arrived in Egypt, he knew that it was the tradition of Egyptian Pharaoh’s to take a woman who was of beauty away from her husband and have him killed. Sarah is said to be of great beauty even at an advanced aged. Again, fearing what man could do instead of trusting in the Lord, Abraham told his wife Sarah to tell Pharaoh that she was Abraham’s sister so that Abraham’s life would not be in danger.

Of course, Sarah was the 1/2 sister of Abraham, which was perfectly acceptable during this time, in that a man could marry a close relative. There was no danger at this time in history of a genetic problem occurring during the development of a baby who came from parents closely related. The gene pool of humans during this time was stronger than it is today where a baby from closely related parents could lead to a birth defect.

So, Abraham did not ask Sarah to tell a complete lie, just a partial lie and that is okay with the Lord right? Of course the answer is that it is absolutely not okay with the Lord. A partial truth is the same as a complete lie to the Lord. Abraham had no business asking his wife to lie for him, even to save his life.

Abraham should have been trusting in the Lord, not fearing what a man could do to him.

Sarah’s response was to quietly submit to Abraham’s request and trust the Lord to correct Abraham later on. She did not argue with her husband. She did not threaten or leave him. She did what he asked and believed that God was able to correct her husband. By submitting to Abraham as unto the Lord, she is forever viewed in the Word of God as being a wonderful example of what a godly woman should be in all of her behavior.

Rob Robinson

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 8th, 2011 at 1:05 am and is filed under Encouragement, For Women, For Women, Marriage, Rob Robinson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.