Abraham and Sarah were called by God to leave their country and their kindred and to go out into an unknown land that God would show them. At the time, little did the childless couple realize that they would become the father and mother of a great nation. “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went” (Hebrews 11:8).
The same Scripture passage likewise gives this account of Sarah, “Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised” (Hebrews 11:11). Along the way, Abraham and Sarah learned many lessons, lessons that are still profitable for us in our own marriages as we learn to follow the Lord together.
Lessons from Abraham
- Lead your wife along with you in the path of God’s calling.
- Build up your wife’s faith, not her doubts.
- Be willing to lay down your own life rather than your wife’s virtue.
- Pitch your tent in safe areas, such as Hebron, not in sin-stained locations, such as Sodom.
- Do not stagger at God’s promises through unbelief.
- Be willing to wholly dedicate your children to God.
- Provide a resting place of hope for your wife as you make plans for death and burial.
Lessons from Sarah
- Follow your husband in the path of God’s calling.
- Reverence your husband by choosing to respect and honor his guidance.
- Adorn yourself with a meek, discerning, and quiet spirit of submission.
- Do not laugh in unbelief at God’s promises.
- Know that nothing is impossible with the Lord.
- Couple your submission to your husband with complete trust in and obedience to God.
- Do not fear the unknown as you follow the Lord in faith and obedience.
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