Friday, June 27, 2008

A wife who does her husband good...

Proverbs 31:10-12 An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.

The Lord brought this verse to my mind about a week ago and I’ve been meditating on wanting to be a wife who does my husband good and not evil all the days of my life. I’ve thought about various women of Scripture and how they’ve encouraged their husbands towards good or evil.

Job’s wife: Job 2:9 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!"

When Job lost his possessions, family, and health he refused to turn on the Lord. His wife pushed him in the opposite direction. I don’t want to be a wife who by words or actions encourages my husband away from fellowship with our Heavenly Father (whether directly or indirectly). I don’t want to have a bitter heart, bring my husband into critical, judgmental, complaining, or gossiping conversations that would bring out impurities in his heart as well. I want the words that come out of my mouth to be used for encouraging him, building him up, and focusing on things that are noble, true, lovely and praiseworthy. (Ephesians 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen & Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.).

Eve: Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

Eve fell prey to the enemy, believed his lies, and enticed her husband to join her in disobeying God’s command. I don’t want to be a wife that is under the control of the deceiver and bringing my husband in that direction with me. I want to encourage him to trust, obey and rest in the Lord and be aware of the lies for what they are.

There are many more women and wives of the Bible whose character can be studied. I love the soft servant heart that Abigail had despite the hardened heart of her husband Nabal. Sarah had a soft servant heart for Abraham, but it could be concluded that she did not encourage him in the right direction when giving Hagar to him to conceive a child rather than waiting and trusting upon the Lord’s promise. Elizabeth, Mary and Ruth all had noble character.

Lord thank you for you word, thank you for revealing the lives of your daughters throughout Scripture. Thank you for the many women that you have put in my life to encourage and mentor me. Thank you for my amazing husband and his heart for you. Lord please teach me to be a wife that does him good all of my days, please show me opportunities to encourage him, serve him, meet his needs and push him towards you. Lord show us opportunities to love others and to push them towards you as well. We love you Jesus.

Shannon

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