For years from many pulpits I’ve heard God is and should be everything. I’ve learned the many names of God and the role he wants to assume in our lives. As a single woman I was taught to let God by my husband, but as I began to share and study with a friend I realized there is only one reference to God being like a husband and that is in Isaiah 54:4-5. These verses are in reference to a widow who was concerned in how she was going to be receive and perceived. It was a word of comfort offered to her in her widowhood.
Then I began to search more and in each instance (KJV-175 times) of the word husband(man). It made me wonder how the idea of a single woman accepting God as a husband got started and why. This only made me search more. Because to my natural mind this really wasn’t making sense. In the natural the roles of a husband are set and I know some men in romantic relationship want the woman to call them “Daddy” at certain times and it is accepted. I’ll admit I’ve done it myself, but there was always a part of me that felt weird about it.
Now in my head the thoughts towards my father are very different than those I would have about a man in my life. It showed me how distorted some of the old teachings have been and how important it is to read the word, chapters in their entirety, and not just selecting a verse and tailor it to suit a point being conveyed.
Then it occurred to me somewhere the dissemination of the word, Matthew 25 and the parable of the ten virgins was distorted to try to keep young single women chaste until marriage. Ha, see how that worked out! This again was an example of why it is important to read and get an understanding for yourself. It is great to be under a good shepherd, but they are not infallible. After many years I’ve found that a good message doesn’t always mean the whole truth has been spoken.
My desire is to know the truth and one I can live with. Not to be self-righteous or to prove a point, just to have a better relationship with God, I needed to have a clear delineation of what this relationship should be like. I think a lot of women may have the same problem I had, but I hope to help someone today. One thing I know for a fact if you don’t know your place or position in a relationship it’s easy to move away from it or destroy it.
A few things I think about when I think about my earthly father are: he disciplined me, he provided for me, he loves me, he was an example of what I should be and sometimes not be, and he usually gives me sound advice. I love my father, trust him and depend on him, just as I do God, to always be there.
To settle my mind I found 1 Peter 3:6 which began to settle what my real position is and should be. “Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.” Then to further confirm my belief Ephesians 1:5 -6 “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” The confirmations don’t stop there, Galatians 4:6-7 “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ”
Now, because I have never been married, I can’t really express what a husband should be. I have a list of qualities I’ve asked the Lord for in a husband and funny thing is there are only two things I get from my father I would want in a husband. The rest I would want are all biblical. 1Peter 3:7-11 “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.”
Then I remembered one of my favorite scriptures, Ephesians 3:22-33, clearly gives me a pattern of what I should be and expect as a wife. “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.”
So I stand before God as a devoted and loving daughter waiting on Him to remove the veil for the right Godly man to find me!! Waiting, waiting, waiting Wednesday!! Smooches~~
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