When setting a new course for a family, not everyone is going to like your conclusion. You might not even “like” the conclusion. People on the edges will weigh in, welcome or not. Mixed with responses and questions may be the sounds of opposition. When a wife strives to stand with her man, she should anticipate attack.
Jeff and I are on the verge of major life change. The “empty nest” piece of it looks small in comparison to the big picture. It’s going to be a wild ride, and I know it. I can follow my man or push back. Since God’s ways bring peace for life, a wife experiences peace when she embraces God’s ways in marriage. If the Opponent of peace can entice a woman to blow off her husband’s leadership and go her own way, he’s destroyed a lot more than a date night. Attacks come when we least expect it. That’ been my experience. Yours? Since marital conflict has far reaching repercussions, wives should expect attacks.
“Noah was a righteous man” (Genesis 6:9) when God called him to cooperate with the divine plan to cleanse the corrupt earth. The account makes it clear that God communicated directly with Noah, who conveyed the plan to his sons and his wife. God’s plan for Noah was for the whole family.
We’re not told if Mrs. Noah ever struggled to believe her husband, to cooperate in the total upheaval of family life, or to give her 100% to the plan. Maybe she spent a few days, weeks or months struggling in her heart. In the decades it took to build the ark, she no doubt had time to waffle and wrestle. But her actions speak louder than the missing words. “And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark,” (Genesis 7:12-13).
Mrs. Noah did the hard thing God asked her family to do.
Sometimes it’s not easy to be the follower. We trust our husband in knowing God’s plans. That doesn’t mean it’s a smooth ride. We’re not told much about Mrs. Noah, but she must’ve made a decision to be her husband’s partner over and over. The Bible doesn’t say Noah was mocked or ridiculed for his ship-sized vision. Matthew 24 describes people as being apathetic and clueless about the coming flood. But opposition surely came in varied ways … When passersby snickered at how her sons were wasting their lives building a …. thing? When Noah worked from dawn ’til dark building a boat … on a dry day? When she wanted to plant perennials and Noah said there wasn’t really a point? When she walked through her home and remembered the sweet memories of their lives life, knowing it would be washed away? Over and over, she had to choose the hard, but right, path to follow. As we cooperate with our man, we cooperate with God.
It only takes one voice to plant doubt and division in the heart of a marriage. In times of transition, change, and uncertainty, a wife is more vulnerable. “Do you think God really said that? Do you really feel the same as your husband? Shouldn’t you be more important?” Attack comes from one voice speaking its own agenda instead of seeking God’s own plan.
It’s opposition to your marriage if
- it contradict biblical principles
- it undermines your husband’s leadership
- it entices you to doubt God’s provision
- it invites you to shift your trust outside your marriage
- it stirs up discontent, not unity
- it spurs you to anti-Philippians 4:8 thoughts
- it emphasizes your individuality, not your oneness
- it advises you to plan separately from your husband
- it mocks God’s movement and answers to prayer
- it believes you won’t experience God’s peace by cooperating with your husband
Mrs. Noah persevered through decades of ark building, years of watching neighbors she knew would perish, seasons of raising sons with unknown futures, and walking beside a husband she trusted to hear God’s voice. It couldn’t have been easy. It wasn’t easy when she was on dry ground, riding the flood waves, or stepping through the mud of uncertainty. But she stayed, she boarded, she persevered, and she went on to help multiply the earth as God planned. God’s plan for her husband was God’s plan for her.
Even in rough waters, we find God’s peace when we cooperate with the human leader and Divine director of our homes.
- Has anyone ever tried to stir up doubt and division in your marriage?
- What response to opposition helps you protect and strengthen your marriage?
You are “right on.” On our many moves I experienced people who told me to drag my heels. Not a good idea. I remember one move it was either Arizona, Nashville or San. Fran. I remember trying to embrace the 3 ideas and said., “Well the Christmas card next year will either have a cactus, a guitar or the Golden Gate Bridge. ” It turned out to be a cactus. Very funny to see Christmas lights on the cactus. “Enjoy the wild ride”………Judy