As Unto The Lord: Submission in Joyful Service - 1 Peter 3:5
📖 Scripture:
“For this is how the holy women of the past adorned themselves: They put their hope in God and were submissive to their own husbands.”
– 1 Peter 3:5
🔎 Examination:
Peter grounds his instruction on submission and inner beauty in history, not theory. He does not appeal to cultural expectations or personality traits but to holy women of the past—women whose lives bore visible testimony to where their hope truly rested. Their defining feature was not control of outcomes, certainty of protection, or assurance of reward. It was this: they put their hope in God.
Hope precedes submission. This is why Peter places hope first. Submission without hope becomes fear. Submission without hope becomes manipulation. Submission without hope becomes bitterness. But submission that flows from hope in God becomes a quiet, powerful act of worship.
Genesis 24 provides one of the clearest pictures of this reality in all of Scripture. Rebekah does not appear in the narrative as a strategist, a negotiator, or a woman managing her future. She appears as a servant. Abraham’s servant arrives in a foreign land with a prayer on his lips, asking God to identify the woman He has chosen for Isaac. The sign he asks for is not beauty, status, or charm—but willing, costly service.
“Let the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who replies, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’—let her be the one.” (Gen 24:14)
Rebekah fulfills this sign immediately and without hesitation. She does not know who the man is. She does not know what the camels represent. She does not know the consequences of her actions. She simply sees a need and serves. The Apostle Paul said it like this: “Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, as for the Lord and not for men, because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Col 3:23-24)
This is not trivial hospitality. Watering ten camels after a long journey is exhausting, time-consuming, and unseen labor. It is the kind of service that cannot be faked for appearance. No one would perform it unless their heart was already oriented toward generosity and trust. Rebekah’s actions reveal what Peter describes centuries later: hope in God expressed through willing submission in ordinary faithfulness. She was not submitting to a husband she had chosen. She was not submitting to a plan she understood. She was not serving because of promised security or guaranteed outcomes. She served because her life was already surrendered to the Lord.
This is precisely the point Peter is making. Holy women adorned themselves not by controlling circumstances but by trusting God enough to act righteously when the future was unclear. Their submission was not rooted in naivety; it was rooted in confidence that God directs what they cannot see.
Rebekah’s service was unnoticed by the world—but not by God. The servant “watched her silently to see whether the LORD had made his journey successful” (Gen 24:21). Heaven was observing. Providence was at work. And Rebekah had no idea. This is how biblical submission operates. It does not perform for affirmation. It does not calculate return on investment. It acts in faith and leaves the results to God.
Modern instincts resist this. We are trained to ask first: What will this cost me? Where is this leading? Who benefits? Scripture often flips the order: Obey first. Trust God with the outcome. Rebekah’s story also guards against a dangerous distortion. Submission does not mean lack of agency. Rebekah later chooses to go (Gen 24:58). Her willing service did not erase her will; it revealed it. She was a woman of decisive faith, not passive compliance.
Peter’s point in 1 Peter 3:5 is not about external structure alone. It is about where hope is anchored. When hope is anchored in God, obedience becomes possible even when the path is undefined. Rebekah’s willingness to draw water was a small act that sat at the hinge of redemptive history. Through that act came Isaac, Jacob, Israel, and ultimately Christ. She did not know this. She did not need to. Faithfulness rarely knows its own significance.
This is why Peter holds up holy women of the past—not to romanticize them, but to remind the saints that God has always worked through quiet obedience offered in trust. The same God who saw Rebekah at the well sees every unseen act of service done in reverence for Him. Submission shaped by eternal hope does not demand worldly or temporal guarantees. It trusts the God who gave Himself away as an everlasting promise of forgiveness and redemption... as unto the LORD.
🤺 Action:
-
Examine the source of your hope
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD.” (Jer 17:7)
Are your acts of obedience driven by trust in God—or by expectation of return? -
Assess your willingness to serve unseen
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.” (Col 3:23)
Would you still serve if no one noticed and no outcome was promised? -
Test your obedience under uncertainty
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart.” (Prov 3:5)
Are you waiting for clarity before obedience, or obeying while trusting God for clarity?
🧠Reflection:
Rebekah did not water camels to secure a future; she submitted in service because her hope was already anchored in God. That hope made her willing, generous, and free. The same God who directed her steps still works through faithful obedience offered up as WORSHIP from saints without worldly guarantees... the only guarantee is that it pleases the LORD. Serve where you are. Trust who He is. Leave the story’s outcome to the perfect will of the divine Author!
Blessings & love,
Kevin M. Kelley
Pastor
Click >>HERE<< for a video short of today's post.
Click >>HERE<< for a video of Pastor Kevin's Sunday sermon.
Comments