Submission Frees Us from Worry

Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.

–1 Peter 3:6

Submitting to earthly authorities teaches us to obey God. A second benefit of submitting to our God-given authorities is that it frees us from unnecessary worry. Someone has defined worry as assuming responsibility God never intended us to have. There are a lot of people buckling under a load of concern because they’re assuming responsibility for something they’re not ultimately responsible for. When we obey the authorities God has placed over us, we can be freed from unnecessary worry.

Authority and responsibility go hand in hand. A wife may disagree with something her husband is proposing to do. But as long as it’s not against God’s laws, if she submits to his authority, she doesn’t have to worry–she’s not responsible for the outcome. We find a great illustration of this in 1 Peter 3. The apostle wrote, “Wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives. . . . Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear” (vv. 1, 6).

Peter was referring to the story in Genesis 20 when Sarah and Abraham were in dangerous territory. Abraham thought, If King Abimelech sees how beautiful my wife is, he will take her and kill me. So he told Sarah, “Don’t tell him I’m your husband; just say I’m your brother. That way, if he takes you, at least he won’t kill me.” Technically, this was a half-truth because Sarah was Abraham’s half-sister. So Sarah did as Abraham had said, and the king spared Abraham’s life. When the king took Sarah into his court, God supernaturally protected her. Obviously, Abraham was not a candidate for husband of the year, and we can debate whether it was right for Sarah to go along with his half-truth. But Sarah followed her husband’s command, and God protected her.

If you’re a wife, let’s just say your husband is considering a promotion that would take you and your family to another city, and you don’t think it’s a good idea. You have every right–and the responsibility–to voice your concerns. If your husband is wise, he will listen to your counsel. But if he ultimately decides you should go, the Bible says you can follow his leadership and know that God is going to protect you.

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Today’s devotion is adapted from “Does Your Home Work?” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2012.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.