PODCAST
Noble Character—Valuable
May 3rd, 2014
Proverbs 31:10-31
Proverbs 31 serves as a beautiful testimony of the diligent, quiet life. We do not know the name or identity of the woman. But she is known by her habits, her compassion, and her wisdom. She is a valuable asset to her husband and to her family.
Many see this as an ideal description of a good wife and an impossible standard for any woman to achieve. While it is true that Proverbs 31 describes a “perfect wife,” it is important to remember that Proverbs is not a biography. Looking past the specifics of each verse we see is a woman who lives out her daily life with integrity. She does what she needs to do to care for her family and others around her. She is diligent, hardworking, and resourceful. This woman certainly has value because of what she does. But she also has value for who she is–one who fears God (v.30).
The way to be a woman after God’s heart has nothing to do with charm or beauty, cooking or cleaning, sewing or planting. God desires whole-hearted commitment to his Kingdom values.
Author: Carol Rittenhouse
May 3rd, 2014 at 9:55 am
Yes, this is Biblical truth. My deceased husband and I jointly cared for and worked side by side raising, loving, hoping, and, yes, disciplining all of our children. ALL eleven. Neither of us set out to have so many children but God had different plans for us. We each had been married but discovered that if we did not pay attention to God’s callings we would miss His signals. And, we both heard many signals but we each ignored them to follow our own paths. However, as the pain and suffering of an earthly life took hold we both saw that God’s calling would not continue forever nor would we. Separately we both suffered at the hands of our own sad choices. We both had married spouses that we thought were Godly but afterwards discovered that we were clearly not “equally yoked”. After long and extremely difficult divorces, we each “heard God more clearly than ever before. Independently we both began to seek with earnest to listen to Him as never before. My husband remarried and he and his wife became foster parents and adopted three of their foster children who were either infants or still very young. They were elated that God has so abundantly blessed their union even though they would have preferred to have borne the children through a more natural union. Sadly, his second wife had health issues and she had a heart attack and died leaving him to care for not only the three they adopted but also her college student child whom adored her mother. Unfortunately, life for him became a nightmare of work, housework, children and caregivers that were taking unfair advantage of the distraught widower Unsaved family members were advising him to send the children “back to the system” since he was struggling to make ends meet. He quietly refused, trusting a loving God along he way. Meanwhile, I too, had gone through a very long and arduous separation and divorce from my husband who had also strayed into another belief system that allowed him to become not only self-abusive but also abusive to me and our children. Unfortunately, after many years of suffering at his hands and devious nature, I too, had to trust God’s leading and remove myself and my children from a dangerous relationship. Again, this was not what I wanted but was what God had clearly made provision. Afterward I spent many years rebuilding my life as well as my children’s lives around the Word of God as well as the Family of God and found that we were quite happy despite our limited finances. I homeschooled my children and watched them grow in love, dependence on God as well as appropriately choosing the people to whom they would give their allegiance. As my future husband and I both became more and more lonely and tired of carrying the ball of life alone we simultaneoulsy went online and joined a website that connected people. I showed up as number one!!
May 5th, 2014 at 8:02 am
Penny, Thanks for sharing your journey.