Letting God Handle the Impossible
August 25, 2011
If any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives...—1 Peter 3:1, NASB
by Ruth Bell Graham
Each man needs something a little bit different from what another man may need. Are you trying to adapt yourself to your husband and be the kind of wife he needs—not the kind you think he needs?
The best advice I ever heard given to a woman whose husband was not a Christian was: “Your business is not to make him good, but to make him happy!” It’s God’s business to make him good.
I heard a true story about a mother of five children. She had a militantly unbelieving husband who took great delight in criticizing his wife, making fun of her faith in front of the children and telling her faults before guests. He did everything he could to undermine her, and yet those children grew up to be dedicated Christian men and women.
Late in her life a friend who knew of the difficult situation asked the mother how she had managed to cope. She replied, “I made it a point never to argue with my husband and never to criticize him; and I made it a point, when I tucked the children in at night, to read to them from the Word of God and to pray with them.”
A wife has two God-given weapons— love: this includes ministering to your husband’s immediate needs; and prayer: keep your mouth shut and pray. We are to keep busy in our department and stay out of God’s. We are to take care of the possible and let God take care of the impossible.
Taken by permission from “Husbands, Children and God” by Ruth Bell Graham, originally published in Decision magazine, June 1967 ©1967 The Ruth Graham Literary Trust.
PRIVACY
