Page 41 - Sarah's Children

molested her. A young girl should not willingly go along with such ungodliness. She
should not be a willing participant. However, she may be forced by a man who is
much stronger than she. When we take a stand for righteousness, we cannot always
know the effect of our decisions. In some instances a wife or daughter declaring that
something is evil and that they cannot participate in it may be enough to dissuade
the authority they are under to not pursue this course. On other occasions it may
simply infuriate the authority and lead to violent and abusive behavior. In all things
we must entrust ourselves to the care of the one who judges righteously.

I mentioned previously the example of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, who are
more commonly referred to by their Babylonian names Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego. When they were instructed by the ruler of Babylon to bow down and
worship an idol, they refused with the following words.

Daniel 3:16-18
Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, "O
Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this
matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the
furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.
But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not
going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set
up."

Such must be our own attitude when faced with a similar crisis. We must entrust
ourselves to a loving Father who is well able to deliver us, but even if He does not
deliver we must remain true.

We mentioned that there is another extreme when considering the issue of obedience
to a sinful request. On the one side is a tendency to do anything that is requested,
even if commanded to sin, and we hope that it is now evident that this is not the will
of the Father. On the other hand there is an even more popular tendency to simply
rebel against authority and to cast off all government. This is the mindset that is
pushed by society at large and it has become very popular within the Christian
church.

We need to be reminded that obedience to authority is the norm, and only in cases
where sin is being commanded should we ever disobey authority. An authority can
be walking in sin, but they are still an authority. In demonstration of this truth Peter
gave wives the following command.