Under The Shadow - Under His Hand

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalm 91:1

Submission is almost a dirty word in our modern age. It brings forth images of insane people being ruled by equally insane people who lead them to destruction and death.

I was at a wedding last week and the S word was used in the vows. The formally sedate crowd broke out in nervous laughter. The picture of women who submit to their husbands goes from pathetic to pathological. Men who demand submission of their wives are often rightly suspected of woman abuse.

Church images of submission are full of pastors who have led their congregations into all kinds of perverse actions justified by a twisting of the doctrine of submission.

Unfortunately these images all have a real foundation.

But the Bible does use the S word quite a lot.

Ephesians 5:22-2
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 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. 24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

Perhaps I am not alone in asking God to help me understand this passage?

Growing up in Oklahoma in the fifties and sixties this passage was preached on quite often. It seemed like, from the preachers I heard, all the world's problems would have been solved if only these rebellious women would submit!

I never once heard the passages that followed it ever preached on.

Ephesians 5:25
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

I think if there had been as strong an emphasis on this passage as the former it might have been a lot easier for wives to have done what my preachers were saying.

But as I studied this issue of submission I found an even greater truth that is one verse ahead of the "wives submit passage:

Ephesians 5:21
Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

As I have checked the Bibles I have seen almost all of them put a space in the text between verse 21 and verse 22. I wonder why? Nothing in the Greek texts requires or even hints at it.

The full passage is about mutual submission. The first concept is to submit to each other. The second part is the particulars of that submission with a view to Jesus and His Bride.

It is not likely that you will ever hear preachers say that Jesus submits himself to his church but he does and he did. He did so when he emptied himself and came to the planet.

Philippians 2:5-8
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

He then proceeded to submit himself on the cross:

Philippians 2:8
Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

As Chris Tomlin wrote in his song Jesus Messiah:

He became sin, who knew no sin,
That we might become His righteousness.
He humbled himself and carried the cross,
Love so amazing, love so amazing!

It is amazing love, and amazing submission.

God did not tell wives only to submit to husbands, he told husbands to submit to wives the same way Jesus did for the church. Submission is love.....

Further, He told the whole body of Jesus on Earth to submit to each other in reverential awe (fear) of Him.

Submission is love in action. But it sounds wrong to say it because the word has come to mean something else in English.

What it means today is not what it meant when Paul said it.

We have some hint of what Paul meant in the English word itself.

SUB = under MIT = hand.

SUBMIT in its first English meaning was to be under the hand of another.

It meant to place yourself under the care of another who truly cared for you. It had nothing to do with slavish, mindless obedience. It never meant giving up your right to be lead by influence rather than domination.

When Paul told the church, wives and husbands, slaves and masters, parents and children to submit themselves to each other he wanted them to take on the role of caregivers for each other. He did not intend for them to become slave masters of each other.

It was an invitation to provide a loving place of provision, protection and intimate presence for everyone. It was to give a place to be "under the hand" of God first and each other next.

That is where our first scripture so blesses me.

Psalm 91:1
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

Submission is to be covered by God's Hand. It is to dwell in the place he protects with His own presence.

It is the place of humility.

Peter understood this well:

1 Peter 5:5-7
You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

David so loved being under God's mighty hand. It was the "secret place" where nothing could enter to harm him.

Psalm 89:13
You have a strong arm; Your hand is mighty, Your right hand is exalted

Psalm 27:4-6
One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD And to meditate in His temple. 5 For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock. 6 And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me, And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.

To submit to someone is to let them care for you.

Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.

If someone does not care for you, you should never submit to them.

It is that simple.

A person who is worthy of your placing yourself under their care will care for you in the care of Jesus Christ.

Otherwise you are inviting disaster into your life.

Further, all true submission has a mutuality built into it. We submit ourselves "one to another."

If a person in your life is demanding you submit to him or her, and yet he or she does not have a relationship of submission to you and others, run.....

Godly submission is when two people lay down their lives for each other. They protect each other. They provide for each other. They spend time with each other. They know each other. They love each other.

If submission is asked for or demanded that is one sided it is not submission it is slavery.