Wednesday, November 25, 2015

A Virtuous Woman...Who Can Find?

“Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.”
Proverbs 31:10

If your anything like me you are striving to be this virtuous woman in Proverbs 31. She is a godly wife and mother who seems to have it all together. I'm not too concerned about having it all together all the time, but I am concerned about being a godly wife and mother. I've realized though that I am a selfish person. On the outside nobody would probably know that, but I can feel it on the inside. I once heard a preacher say that the bottom line of all sin is selfishness. I've talked in a previous post about pride and how toxic pride can be and selfishness kind of goes hand in hand with that. So, to get my mind off self and onto things more eternal I decided to do an in depth study of Proverbs 31. I will probably break it down into several posts, but I thought I'd share with you my thoughts on the chapter and also how I will be applying it to my own life and the results of that. 

“10. A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.
11.Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. 
12.She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.”
Proverbs 31:10-12 NIV

Verse 10 is the introduction to the virtuous woman. The NIV version translates virtuous to noble character, which is defined as having good moral character. If this type of wife/mother was hard to find in their day imagine what they would think about in today's society??  

I like the KJV version better of verse 11. It says, 
“The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.”
I like the words "safely trusts in her". Our husbands should trust us, which for me is never something I really thought about. I guess I automatically assumed he did, but I never have asked. He lacks nothing, which to me translates that we should make sure our husbands have everything they need to be successful. For me that would mean making sure my husband has something to eat and has clean work clothes. Those are probably the two areas that I sometimes lack at (I'm telling you my selfishness is bad sometimes). 
Husbands also have other needs (ahem) that us tired mommas tend to forget about, so let's try to be more mindful of those as well. 

Verse 12 is a big pill to swallow. "She brings him good not harm all the days of her life". I have to be nice to my husband? Everyday? All day? Til I die?!? I'm going to be completely honest, which I've told this to my husband before, but I generally save my "niceness" for when I go out in public or to my kids, but even then it's marginal. Yes, you all I was not kidding when I said this selfishness was bad. Thank the Lord, He is still working on me and hasn't given up on my poor selfish soul. My husband gets the last little ounce of kindness within me and sometimes there's not even an ounce. I can only imagine what it would do to my life and his if I used the majority of my kindness toward him. I'm going to be completely honest. He is the toughest person to be kind to though because he generally only sees me in the morning and late at night which is when I am the most tired and have the least amount of energy and he also isn't the Proverbs 31 husband so we have two really imperfect people who are both full of selfishness. Usually one of us is trying to be kind and do the right thing and the other one is in stuck in selfishville so if we could both get on the same page we would change the world (exaggerating slightly), but I cannot change him that's something only God can do (something I've realized after many failed attempts). I'm only in control of me so change has to start with me, Amen!? 

So, to review these three verses as a checklist of sorts...
A Virtuous Woman:
1. Has good moral character
2. Her husband trusts her
3. She supplies all her husband's needs
4.  She is always kind to her husband

Don't forget! We can't do any of these things on our own strength, so don't forget to pray that the Lord would change your heart and help you to become more like this virtuous woman. Join me tomorrow as we talk about verses 13-15! 

What are your thoughts on verses 10-12? What are you going to do differently today to make for a better tomorrow? 

Love to you all! 



No comments:

Post a Comment