So what does the Lord expect a married woman to do who is getting beat on by her husband ? Is she to stay and try to work it out, or is she supposed to divorce the guy ? Is that excepted ?
That a very good question and worthy of a Scriptural answer.
1. Let's assume the wife is a believing born-again Christian and the husband is not.
2. The first thing that the wife would need to do is examine herself in the light of God's instructions to believing wives (1 Pet 3:1-6).
Matthew Henry has a good comment on v. 6:
Christians ought to do their duty to one another, not out of fear, nor from force, but from a willing mind, and in obedience to the command of God. Wives should be in subjection to their churlish husbands, not from dread and amazement, but from a desire to do well and to please God.
In the day that we live in, many Christian wives have a hard time being truly in subjection as God commands. But that's the first priority in God's eyes.
3. Assuming the wife is in subjection, and she is praying fervently for the salvation of her husband, and he continue to assault her, she can bring this to the attention of the pastor and elders in her church, and ask for a meeting with them in order get the husband to bring this to a halt. She should not delay or try to avoid the embarrassment of revealing this ugly situation to those who should deal with it in complete confidence (too many pastors don't know how to maintain confidentiality).
4. Assuming the husband is willing to sit down in a counseling session with those who can provide real spiritual counsel (not psychological and psychiatric nonsense),
someone in that group should deal with the husband's real issue, which is spiritual, and bring the Scriptures to bear.
5. If the husband get's saved as a result of this, and repents of his unacceptable behavior, the marriage would be saved.
6. If the husband refuses to repent, the wife can separate herself from him without going into a divorce, which God permits (1 Cor 7:11),
remain unmarried to another, pray for her husband (as we are even commanded to pray for our enemies) and ask God to intervene and deal with this man (Ps 9:9,10).
7. God does hear and answer prayers, and He may either bring this husband to repentance, or
simply remove him from this earth (1 Sam 25:36-38) so that she is free to remarry, as Abigail was.