The Bible says the husband is the head of the wife. For years that did not set well with me. It downright set me in a rebellious state of mind.
But when I finally understood what the Bible is saying, I calmed right down and I embraced the teaching.
In every institution there is a chain of command or authority. Those in command or authority are responsible for that institution and those that are a part of it.
When I've held jobs outside my home, my boss, be it man or woman, was my head so to speak. Was that head necessarily smarter than I, or have better ideas than I? No. But he was in the position of authority, and to that position, not the person, I submitted...I put myself under authority.
Such is the case in a marriage or a home. The chain of command starts at the top with God, next is Jesus, then the husband, then the wife, then the children. One's position in this chain is not an indicator of importance or strength or superiority. One's position indicates his accountability to those positionally above and accountability for those below.
I accept authority outside my home, so why not in my home? No society can exist without order; neither can a home.Without "heads" there would be chaos. As a citizen I serve the laws of my town/county/state/country gladly knowing they are designed for my protection and for the protection of all its citizens. The same holds true in the home. God's design and the position he assigns us is divinely ordered and for our protection and welfare.
A husband as the head does not have the right to mistreat his wife or family anymore than an employer an employee. Both are under the compulsion to follow the law of love prescribed in Scripture. And as an employee in the workplace can appeal a decision made by a "head", so can the wife appeal decisions made by the husband.
In fact that is the best part. I can appeal to my husband, and if he will not hear me, or is not just, I can go over his head as it were....I can appeal to his head, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I have....generally it goes like this: "Jesus, are you going to let him treat me like that?" or "Jesus, are you going to let him get away with that?"
Time and time again Jesus has intervened on my behalf and all I had to do was utter a prayer and sit back and watch .
As a daughter of the King, I am a princess. His princess. And Daddy God does not take lightly the mistreatment of his child.