I went to hear a woman speak last week and she said the verse
"wives submit to your husbands" was one of the most misused verses in
the church. Deep down my heart agreed. I had always felt like there was
more to this verse and I had yet to discover all of it's meaning. The
speaker said that the word submit in this verse, when translated into English
from Greek, did not have the same meaning as the English word
submit. I did not write down her definition but I bought her book so I
am still searching for the wording that she used. Her words left me on a
search to find deeper truth to the meaning of this verse. I did find an
article on God's Word to Women
that explains it very well. It says the word submit does not mean obey,
it means to lift up. "Wives lift up your husbands." Can you imagine if
the Bible used this word instead of the word submit? I can tell you that
every time I have encouraged or "lifted up" my husband that a miracle
has taken place. I need to work harder to express my gratitude to him
more often. I need to make more of an effort to lift him up.
I was
sitting in church last Sunday and God reminded me of the new knowledge
that I had of the authentic meaning of this definition of the words in
this verse. He then reminded me of a time when my husband used this
verse in a hurtful way in my life. We were looking at houses and I did
not have a peace about buying a certain house that my husband wanted to
buy. He got very upset with me one day and said "you are supposed to
submit to me, we are going to buy this house." Let's just say that our
evening was not pretty. I was not okay with being treated that way, with
having that verse thrown at me in that way and I knew it was wrong.
Being back in the moment at church, God whispered to me "what did you
feel?" I knew right away. The experience made me feel like I was not
valuable. So God said I want to heal this wound and let you know that
"You are Valuable."
He God reminded me of another event that
happened in my life. I was talking with my mother in law and I mentioned
that my husband and I had gotten into a fight about something in the
past. She got very upset and started telling me how I should submit to
my husband and that I was not allowed to fight with him. I spoke up for
myself at first and said that I had a different take on the verses and
fights do happen in a marriage. However, she did not back down on her
point, so I just decided to stop talking and move on. God whispered to
me "how did you feel?" I said I felt like I didn't have a voice, like I
was not valuable. He said "I want to heal this wound too and let you
know that You Are Valuable." As I put the new meaning of this word into the space of this verse
"Wives Lift Up Your Husbands," I felt a new sense of value. I felt like
for the first time in my life, as a woman, I was important.
I
heard Lisa Bevere speak on her new book about being a Lioness. Lisa
said that God gave her a dream about a Lioness and then began to teach
her about it. She said that Jesus is the Lion and that we as the church,
the bride, are the lioness. We fight the enemy with God and together
the enemy is defeated. She spoke of how the military had called her to
get her book study because they knew that if they could not reach the
women in the countries they were going into that they could not help
them to have victory. Without the women and men working together as a
team they would not get the message of hope out to help these countries.
Again I was hearing the theme, women have value. It gave me hope and
once again I came alive as I was in my youth. I even found my voice.
I know God has called me to speak and write. I'm not sure how that will look or turn out.
I
do want you to know this, that you are valuable. If anyone has ever
misused this verse "Wives Submit to your Husbands" I pray right now that
God would heal your heart and make it whole again. If you disagree with
my definition, I am okay with that, but I challenge you to be open to
something new and ask God to show you more about this verse. No matter
what you feel, whether you want to hold onto the traditional definition
of the word or you are embracing the meaning of the Greek that I found
new life in, please know this, that You are Very Very Valuable.
And imagine that God himself is whispering to you, my Daughter, my bride, YOU ARE VALUABLE.
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