SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/22/2013
12:06 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Husbands
& Wives PT-4
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Proverbs 31
Message of the
verses: We will continue looking at
Proverb’s 31 in today’s Spiritual Diary.
She is a woman who
isn’t afraid to work (Proverbs 31:13-22, 24): “13
She looks for wool and flax And works with her hands in delight. 14 She is like merchant ships; She brings her
food from afar. 15 She rises also while
it is still night And gives food to her household And portions to her maidens.
16 She considers a field and buys it;
From her earnings she plants a vineyard. 17
She girds herself with strength And makes her arms strong. 18 She senses that her gain is good; Her lamp
does not go out at night. 19 She
stretches out her hands to the distaff, And her hands grasp the spindle.
20 She extends her hand to the poor, And
she stretches out her hands to the needy. 21
She is not afraid of the snow for her household, For all her household
are clothed with scarlet. 22 She makes
coverings for herself; Her clothing is fine linen and purple.-- 24 She makes linen garments and sells them, And
supplies belts to the tradesmen.”
I know when I read these verses that I stop and wonder
about how much energy that this woman has.
I wonder how in the world this woman can do all of the things that are
described in these verses, but I suppose that they are not all done in one
day. It seems that she must have a list
of things that she wants to accomplish and then she goes about doing them, she
probably sets down the night before and decides what it is that she will do the
next day and then goes out and does it the next day. This is probably a summary of the things that
she accomplishes throughout the year.
We see for sure in this section that she is a very hard
working woman, but we also see that she is a very generous woman in verse
twenty. Proverbs 14:21 states, “He who
despises his neighbor sins, But happy is he who is gracious to the poor.” Proverbs 19:17 tells us that nothing that is
given to the Lord will ever be lost, “One who is gracious to a poor man lends
to the LORD, And He will repay him for his good deed.”
The next thing that this woman is seen to do is found in
verse 23 and it is there that we discover that she makes it easy for her
husband to do his work. “Her husband is
known in the gates, When he sits among the elders of the land.” From my study on the book of Ruth and in
chapter four we find that the business of that day was done at the city gate,
and the husband of this woman can be found doing his business there for he does
not have to be concerned about what his wife is doing unlike the woman we meet
earlier in the book of Proverbs who was out in the night looking for someone
else to bed down with. This man has no
worries about that and so he can conduct his business without any fear of what
his wife is doing.
Dr. Wiersbe writes the following, “A husband and wife
should complement each other as they each seek to fulfill their roles in the
will of God. Wise is that husband who
recognizes his wife’s strengths and lets her compensate for his
weaknesses. Doing this isn’t a sign of
personal failure, nor is it rebellion against the divine order (1 Cor.
11:3). Both leadership and submission in
a home are evidences of love and obedience, and the one doesn’t nullify the
other.”
Next we see that this woman is confident as she faces the
future, “Strength and dignity are her clothing, And she smiles at the future (Pr. 31:25).” Let’s look at the highlighted part of this
verse, clothed. This is an interesting
phrase found in the Word of God: “9 ¶
Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing,
modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly
garments, 10 but rather by means of good
works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness (1 Tim. 2:9-10) “We see from this verse that to be clothed
with something means that it is a part of your life and reveals itself in your
character.”
Next we see that this woman is a capable teacher of
wisdom from Proverbs 31:26: “She opens
her mouth in wisdom, And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” We can realize that this woman is a wonderful
teacher of her children and I would suspect that her children are willing
learners because of the way that she is able to teach them because of her
wisdom.
We see in Proverbs 31:27 that she is an attentive
overseer of the household. “She looks
well to the ways of her household, And does not eat the bread of idleness.” How could one ever think that this woman ever
ate the bread of idleness? That would be
the farthest thing from my mind as I look at what this woman accomplishes with
her life. Dr. Wiersbe writes “Any
husband and father who thinks that his wife has it easy should take her
responsibilities for a week or two and discover how wrong he is!”
Next we see in verses 28-29 that this woman is worthy of
praise: “28 Her children rise up and bless her; Her
husband also, and he praises her, saying: 29
‘Many daughters have done nobly, But you excel them all.’” We can be
assured that the praise that this woman receives from her husband and children
was not something that was spontaneously or just on special occasions, but this
was something that was regular in this household. Dr. Wiersbe writes “It’s tragic when the
members of a family take each other for granted and fail to show sincere
appreciation.”
Next we see that this woman fears the Lord and oh how
very important this quality is: “30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a
woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.” Let’s look at how Peter writes about this in
1Peter 3:1-6, “1 ¶ In the same way, you
wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are
disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of
their wives, 2 as they observe your
chaste and respectful behavior. 3 Your
adornment must not be merely external-braiding the hair, and wearing gold
jewelry, or putting on dresses; 4 but
let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a
gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. 5 For in this way in former times the holy
women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to
their own husbands; 6 just as Sarah
obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do
what is right without being frightened by any fear.” We see from Proverbs 31:30 that this woman
must have been a sight to behold, but the most important things was found in
her character, and that she loved and walked with the Lord. I am reminded of the story of Jacob when he
was forced to leave home because of the trick he had played on his brother who
is said would have killed him if he stayed there. He went to his uncle Labon’s house and upon arrival
he saw what would be his cousin Rachel, and when he saw her he fell in love
with her right away. He had to work for
his uncle for seven years in order to marry Rachel, but his uncle played a
trick on the trickster as he put Rachel’s sister Leah in the tent where Rachel
was suppose to be. Jacob was very upset
at this trick and then he had to work another seven years for this new
bride. The point in all of this is that
it was through the children that came from Jacob and Leah that the Messiah
would come, and when Rachel died she was buried near Bethlehem while Leah was buried
in the cave that Abraham bought and was buried in. Leah may have not been the best looking
woman, but it seems to me that she was the one who was more used by the Lord
and in the end I think that Jacob realized it too.
Finally we see that her life is a testimony to
others. I suppose that this is not too
hard to figure out as most of Proverbs 31 is dedicated to her. “31
Give her the product of her hands, And let her works praise her in the
gates.” Let’s look at another verse in
Proverbs “A gracious woman attains honor, And ruthless men attain riches.” We are only looking at the first part of this
verse and we see that a woman who is gracious, which is surely true of the
woman in Proverbs 31, will attain honor, and we can see that honor being bestowed
upon her in verse thirty-one.
In conclusion Dr. Wiersbe writes, “This beautiful tribute
to the godly wife and mother tells every Christian woman what she can become if
she follows the Lord. It also describes
for every Christian man the kind of wife for whom he ought to be looking and
praying. But it also reminds the
prospective husband that he’d better be walking with the Lord and growing in
his spiritual life so that he will be worthy of such a wife if and when God
brings her to him.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: One of the things
that I came from the ten suggestions for a husband to follow in honoring his
wife was that praise should be given to her on a regular basis and that is also
what is seen here. Not to take for
granted what someone does for you is a hard thing to do, but it should not be a
hard thing to do. Only by the grace of
God will I be able to do it better.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Praise the Lord for my hard working
wife.
Memory verses for the week:
Psalm 32:1-3
1 How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered! 2 How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute
iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit! 3 When I kept silent about my
sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long.
Turning Points Wisdom for
Today: “God’s promises are like stars;
the darker the night the brighter they shine.”
(David Nicholas) “For all the
promises of God in Him are yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through
us.” (2 Corinthians 1:20)
2/22/2013 2:01 PM
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