The Virtuous Wife- Lesson Eighteen

"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.'" Psalm 91:1-2

Hello again, Ladies....Let's pray:

"Our Father, I come before You this day to seek Your wisdom and Your grace. I pray for each woman reading this study today that You will speak to her heart and reveal to her more about who You are and what Your covenant is. I also pray for her marriage, her home, her children, and her time alone with You. May it be life changing.

I seek Your forgiveness of my sins this day, Lord, because I so much want to serve You and hear from You. I know my sin keeps You from me, and so I pray that You will wash away my sins, cleanse me with Your blood, and fill me to overflowing with Your holy spirit. May You overflow into my home and restrain my tongue from causing harm to those I love.

In Jesus' name..........Amen.

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Today's passage: Prov. 31:25 "Strength and honor are her clothing; She shall rejoice in time to come."

We have read in previous verses that the clothing of the Virtuous Woman is fine linen and purple, but here we read that figuratively she is clothed in strength and honor.

Please read:

1 Chron 29:12

Where does her strength and honor come from according to 1 Chron. 29:12?

2 Sam 22:3-4

Here we have David in the presence of the Lord. Who does he give credit to for his strength?

Job 6:11-13

How did Job feel about his flesh? Did he put his hope in himself? Should we?

Psalm 96:6

As women, we can have the strength of the Lord as long as we acknowledge that it comes from Him and not ourselves. God does look upon us and honor our hard work. He is a God who rewards His children for serving Him. He remembers us........

Please read:

Gen. 6:22

Noah obeyed God and completed all the hard work he was appointed to do.

Gen. 7:1

Gen 8:1

Gen 8:20-22

Gen 9:8-9

God remembered Noah and blessed him.

Please read:

1 Tim. 5:17-18

Lev 19:13

Deut. 24:15

Scott and are currently teaching Nathan about work. Like all preteens, he hates chores. But we are trying to teach him to respect work as a means to an end. He wants to purchase a video game but he has no money. So, we are allowing him to earn more money by doing more chores around the house.

By doing some of my chores, he is learning to respect the work that his mother does around the house so hopefully, when he is married, he will respect the work his wife does for his household. Plus he is learning to earn money for the things he wants to purchase.

But the main thing we want Nathan to learn is how God honors hard work. So much so that he included protection for the worker in His laws.

Of course, Nathan cannot do all things by himself just like we cannot do all things alone. Our strength must come from above:

Please read:

Isaiah 45:24

Psalm 18:1

Psalm 27:1

Psalm 28:8

Psalm 29:11

Phil. 4:12-13

The Virtous Wife received her strength to do all the good works she did from the Lord. Only then could she have completed anything.

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Life Application

I went running 3 miles a few nights ago and boy was it hard. Not the distance so much as the heat. I went way to early: 6:30pm. The sun was low in the sky, but it sure gave one last blast of heat before heading down over the mountains.

I decided to run north of Happy Valley road along 23rd ave. There are many new homes out there and new roads. It was so very quiet and peaceful in the desert. What a treat to only hear my breathing and my footsteps. Nothing else!

But the run was hard because of my weakness. I hate, HATE the heat. I think next time I will run at 7pm instead. It was much cooler after the sun made its way over the mountains. Oh well, live and learn.

I have learned through the years that I cannot do anything without Christ. I went through hell on earth to bring my son into this world, so I am giving him back to the Lord to honor the Lord for all that He has done to me. That is why Scott and I work so hard to teach our son so much about the Lord before he leaves our home.

Please read:

2 Cor 12:9

Jer 16:19

What about the honor of the Virtuous Wife?

Esther 6:7-9

How did the king honor the man "whom the king delights to honor"?

Psalm 49:20

What about a man who does not understand honor?

Psalm 66:2

How are we, God's creation, to honor the Lord's name?

Psalm 91:15

Prov 3:9-10

Prov 15:33

John 5:23 & 8:48-49

Being a Virtuous Woman is more than taking care of the house and managing our time well. It is having an understanding of what honor is and where it comes from. We must also know that our strength never comes from ourselves, but from the Lord.

Please read:

1 Thess 4:4

We are to honor the Lord because he alone is worthy:

1 Tim 1:17

2 Tim 2:20

1 Pet 2:17

Remember Ruth? Because of her honor, her reputation preceded her:

Ruth 3:10

Oh how I remember my bad reputation for being a contentious woman preceded me. I remember one church outing at a friend's house where all the husbands went outside to talk and all the wives sat at the dinner table talking. As I sat down at the table to enter into the conversation, all the other women left me there alone. I then joined them in the family room, but they all left again. Taking the hint, I then went upstairs to a sitting room and remained there alone for the rest of the night! All because of my reputation...

God has had to work hard to eliminate all the harshness, bitterness, and just plain ugliness in me that was useless to Him. That process has been very painful to me and at times lonely. But His work has also brought me much joy. It hasn't happened overnight and He is far from being finished with me yet!

Psalm 126:5-6

Ruth and Naomi worked hard and had much sorrow, but their hard work and virtuous reputations brought them much rejoicing.

Ruth 4:13-22

Is. 25:9

In order for me to be a Virtuous Wife, I have to be clothed in strength and honor from the Lord. Obedience is how to get that strength and honor!

Now that I have learned what a haughty spirit and a contentious tongue earns me (Prov 16:18 and Prov 18:12) I desire more than anything to rejoice in the Lord always.

1 Thess 5: 16

That is what I want to teach my son:

Respect hard work because the Lord does.

We are strong in the Lord because His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

Honor is something to be understood and it comes from the Lord.

Honor the Lord always with your firstfruits and with your mouth.

Rejoice in the Lord always no matter what hard times may come.....rejoice!

Tell a young woman you know today that she can be clothed in God's strength and honor today. Then she will learn to rejoice in the time to come.

Until next time.............

"Before His plan can come to full fruition in our life, He must eliminate all that is old, dead, diseased, and useless in our character. When we first meet Sarah in the Old Testament, for instance, she is impatient, contentious, angry, manipulative, and unbelieving. Her life with Abraham, Hagar, and Ishmael is characteriazed by tension and unfulfillment. But God works in her life and uses failures, consequences, time, and even unhappiness to bring her to a mature faith in Him. In fact, she is listed in Hebrews 11 as an example of faith. While siuch a pruning process as Sarah underwent can be painful, it gives us an opportunity to love God by trusting that He is at work in our life to bring about the beauty He has promised."

-Elizabeth George (Loving God With All Your Mind, 1994, p. 165)