What I learned at Bible School

"Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Joshua 1:9

This was the theme verse for our Bible school that we had last week. The overall theme was "Arctic Edge: Where Adventure Meets Courage". As I studied to teach these lessons last week, I began to see how many applications I could make from this for my own life. So, as is normal when I teach, I'm sure I got more out of it than the kids did :-).

So, what is courage? Most of the kids said being brave and that is true, but we expanded it to include, being brave enough to follow the Lord even when it might be scary or not what we want to do. Think about Abraham. The last part of Hebrews 11:8 says, "and he went out, not knowing whither he went." God told Abraham to go and "by faith", Abraham went. Imagine Abraham's fear and uncertainty about what might lie ahead. So often, we think of the Bible heroes as extra-human or super hero type people. But, they were just people with the same fears, concerns, etc. As I thought about Abraham and how he must have felt, I began to think of my role as a wife. As a wife, God has told me to be in submission to my husband according to Eph. 5, but sometimes this takes courage. Now don't get me wrong, I have a WONDERFUL husband, and most of the time being in submission to him is very easy. But there are times when we have different opinions (afterall we are 2 different people) and God has clearly laid out in his Word that he is to be the head of our home. So why is it so hard for me sometimes to be in submission? Because of a lack of courage -- fear! Fear about the decision that my husband might make, fear that he won't do what I want him to do (that's pretty childish, huh?), fear of what will happen. But, I can honestly say, the more that I am in submission, the more peaceful I feel. The more I trust the Lord with my life (and not my own ability to make something happen), the more joy that I have and the stronger my marriage becomes.

So, as wives, can we be like Abraham, "and he went out not knowing whither he went"? Sometimes we wonder and stew over decisions our husband has made, but we don't have to. We can give it to the Lord and walk by faith. There really is no more joyous place to be!