The Week In Review

A woman that seeks – marks of a virtuous woman

So what are the marks of this virtuous woman, any virtuous woman for that matter? Or another word for marks, is what characteristics does this virtuous woman in scripture show us today, that can help us be successful in our assignments as wives and mothers? The first characteristic is:

A RIGHTEOUS WOMAN MUST HAVE COMPLETE TRUST IN GOD: Even though verse 30 is almost the last one in the list of characteristics about this woman, it is the most important. In order for any of us to be a righteous wife and mother, we must put our trust in the Lord. When we give ourselves completely over into the hands of God, he is the one that equips us to carry out the tasks of our lives. Something we must understand is this woman is not righteous because of her own doing, for none of us are righteous in ourselves. What makes this woman righteous is the same thing that makes you or I righteous, our relationship with God. For when we accept Christ as our savior, his blood paid the cost of our sins and replaced our sinful nature and scarred lives and replaces them with his nature and his righteousness. So let us remember we cannot boast if we are a good wife or mother as if it is in our own power, because it is our relationship with Christ that equips us to fulfill these assignments of wife and mother.

Many times we have problems in our assignment because we are doing things from our own understanding and ideas. That’s why when our marriages are not as they should be or when our children are misbehaving, we are discouraged and ready to give up. Yet, if we take nothing from this scripture, and understand where this woman’s success came from, it was her trust and obedience to God. And we are already victorious if we are children of God. Paul says we are more that conquerors in Christ. So we don’t have to go through our situations beaten down, broken down and defeated. We can come across the finish line of the assignments we have in joy, peace and triumphantly.

A RIGTHEOUS WOMAN IS NOT AN IDLE WOMAN: The righteous or virtuous woman is at work because she understands the importance of redeeming the time and not wasting any. Scripture says, “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” Ephesians 5:14-17. The righteous woman takes care of the needs of her family and of her mission for God. We know she has an assignment because in vs. 20 she is cheerfully feeding the poor and taking care of the needy. This let’s us know that even as mothers and wives, we still have a place and a purpose given to each of us by God that he wants us to fulfill. As a wife and mother first yes, for that too is a mission, but he also calls us to work within the kingdom. Sometimes trying to manage home and church can seem to be overwhelming, but that is why you must seek God for his direction on what to do and how to do it. Plus it doesn’t hurt that this woman was in shape (vs. 17). In other words, she took care of herself so that she would be able to accomplish the things she needed to. You know how tiring it can be to handle all the things in your day so wisdom should say to you, care for yourself so that you are able to do what is required of you.

Wisdom says, “Eat well, rest and exercise”. And I have to tell you personally I hate to exercise, but I hate feeling bad more, so I get up most times 5-6 days a week and exercise. I starting doing that because I said, Lord, I want to be able to go when you say go, and do when you say do. I had some problems almost 3 years ago, and I was well over 200 lbs. and I was not able to get up in the morning and stand on my left foot. But when I realized that God wanted to use me, I not only asked him to discipline me in the word for service, but to show me how to discipline myself in how to take care of my self. I’m not talking about any of those crazy fad diets that might kill you. I’m talking about simply taking the best care you can of yourself and disciplining yourself to stop over eating. Now I no longer have the pain when I walk, I can get up in the morning and walk or whatever I need to do. So we must take care of ourselves, otherwise, how will we be able to take care of others if we are not well ourselves?

Another thing I have heard, and I have had to laugh about this statement was, “Okay, I see all that she is doing, but what is her husband doing?” I guess this statement from many women is, why does this woman have to do all the work, or so it seems so? What we have to do is look at this scripture in this way; it does not focus on the man, because it is talking about the virtues of a righteous wife. And do not feel men are getting off easy as husbands. I did a study for myself about the role of the husband, and I said, Lord thank you for not making me the head of the house. Men do have more requirements upon them, whether they do them or not is another story. It is really the man’s responsibility for the spiritual growth of his family. It is the man’s responsibility for providing for his family’s needs (spiritually, emotionally and financially). It is the man’s responsibility to learn his wife’s moods and live with her according to that knowledge, now that is a task in itself, because there are certain times that I really don’t even like myself.

Scripture also says if men are not taking care of these responsibilities such as loving his wife, for example, then his prayers will not be answered or that this hinders his prayer life. So God is holding men responsible as well for what they do. So don’t read this looking for the lack of the man’s responsibility, this is not about him. The other point you can glean from this is, does it really matter what kind of man HE is, or does it matter more that you are obedient to God or not? What I am saying is this, I don’t think much is said about the man because then we would look at this and make the conclusion that we only have to be this kind of wife, if we have a certain kind of husband. If he isn’t acting right, I don’t have to do any of these things. Not so. If your husband is not as he should, that is God’s responsibility to get him straight. Your responsibility is to be a righteous woman in every situation and circumstance. And when you do, you can pray and ask God to work on your husband and family situations.