Cheryl Schatz

You will also note from the example above, that when the husband takes out the trump card, it will always be a decision for his own way.

Think about how much better it would be for the husband to work with the wife for a mutual decision. God is the one who has chosen to give us free will in the first place. There are many places in the Bible where God pleads with the sinner to turn from his sin and to come back into fellowship with Himself. Yet God is the ultimate One who could take out the trump card and make the decision for the person. He could just bring them into fellowship with Him against their will. But a person’s will is something very precious and God chooses not to violate our will even if it causes Him great pain of separation from us. Think about this. If God Himself will not violate the will that He has given each one of us, would it be reasonable to think that He has given the husband a godlike trump card that gives him permission to violate his wife’s will? It doesn’t seem reasonable to think that a sinful human would be given the right to do something that God Himself has chosen not to do. Rather, the husband should do what God Himself does do. There are ways to work through to a mutual decision without treating the wife like her own will has been given into his hands to override and overrule. If no mutual decision can be reached and if she agrees that the husband can make the final decision, her will has not been outwardly overridden. But this also might be an easy way out for her. Taking the time to come to a mutual decision even if it means to make no decision for a period of time allows God to work in both person’s hearts and also it allows Him to provide a way where there was no way before. Those are godly things, I would think.