God's Roles For Marriage Versus The World's Views

"Or if a woman makes a vow to the Lord, and binds herself by some agreement while in her father’s house in her youth, and her father hears her vow and the agreement by which she has bound herself, and her father holds his peace, then all her vows shall stand, and every agreement with which she has bound herself shall stand. But if her father overrules her on the day that he hears, then none of her vows nor her agreements by which she has bound herself shall stand; and the Lord will release her, because her father overruled her." Numbers 30:3-5 This passage in the Word of God speaks of authority. A woman living in her father's house is under the authority of her father. This is how God has set it up. God establishes authority and it stands whether people acknowledge it or not, and whether women submit or not. It is an ordinance of the Lord. vs 7-8: "If indeed she takes a husband, while bound by her vows or by a rash utterance from her lips by which she bound herself, and her husband hears it, and makes no response to her on the day that he hears, then her vows shall stand, and her agreements by which she bound herself shall stand. But if her husband overrules her on the day that he hears it, he shall make void her vow which she took and what she uttered with her lips, by which she bound herself, and the Lord will release her." When a woman is married, she comes under her husband's authority - whether she acknowledges that or not, and whether she submits to his authority or not, it is God who established it. It will stand. But we live in a "modern" world in which such ordinances of God are scorned. If you bring these verses to a "feminist" be prepared to be laughed at, or worse. These days, no daughter and no wife would even think to submit to the authority of a father or husband. We have become so "progressive," you see. We're the enlightened generation, you know. God had better rewrite his Word because no one will receive it, of course. But God is not about to change his mind when it comes to his Word. "The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the Word of the Lord endures FOREVER.” 1 Peter 1:24-25 "For I am the Lord, I DO NOT CHANGE;" Malachi 3:6 The Word of God is solid and it is forever, it never changes, nor does it vary with the times. Society changes, in fact society has "progressed" very far from heeding the Word of God, and society pays the price for that. Divorce and fatherless children are a result of scorning the Word of God. Violating the Word of God is not ok with God, nor does he take into consideration the "advanced state" of modern society. Those who would reject God's Word on the subject of submission to authority, especially on the subject of a wife's requirement to submit to her husband - they reject the idea saying that a man is NOT greater than a woman so this is "foolishness." Nowhere in the Word of God is this sentiment found. It has nothing to do with better than, or greater than. Take as an example a household in which the father is a brute and the child quite the opposite, a good child, an intelligent child. The Word of God holds the child, the better one in this case - in submission to the lesser, because it's not a matter of better or lesser, that is not a consideration. It's a matter of God-ordained authority. Some might argue that it's impossible for a child to remain submitted to a brutish man. And of course, the child is not commanded to submit in cases where the father directs the child to sin. But even in such a case the ATTITUDE of the child must remain reverent to the brutish father. And a child or a wife who receives the Word of God and follows it, will find that a correct attitude even in an unpleasant setting will find the windows of heaven opened and blessing poured out, for following the Word of God always prompts the response of God in great blessing. Jesus Christ submitted to the Father always, but was in no wise greater than or lesser than the Father. He kept the Word of God. God has placed an obvious sign in his principle of wives submitting to husbands. Have you ever noticed that in general, the husband is taller and stronger than the wife? This is no accident of nature. God has deliberately ordained it this way to keep a perpetual reminder of his Word as it relates to husbands and wives. God could have made them generally equal in height and strength, but he chose to stress the importance of this principle by creating them the way he did, a principle that will not change regardless of the changes in society. Before any man reading this should become puffed up on this principle, he must be reminded that the Word of God also speaks to the man, telling him his part: He who said: "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord, for the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church, and He is the Savior of the body ...so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything." Ephesians 5:22 Also said: vs 25, 28: "So husbands ought to LOVE their own wives AS THEIR OWN BODIES;" This rules out any brutishness on the part of the husband. His role is to love his wife even as his own body, to protect her, to highly esteem her. Any brutishness in his behavior toward his wife will be met with the rebuke of heaven, and sometimes the Lord will allow the wife to leave, especially if she and the children are in danger. But that is a sometime thing - and she must get the Lord's will in the situation by bringing it to the Lord in prayer. When a man and a woman each accept their God-given roles, they will receive the blessing of God upon their marriage, for it is God who ordained such and submission to the Word of God always draws the blessing of God.