Daily Reading
Daily Thought
It was not “very good” in the Garden until Adam met Eve. Little wonder, then, that Proverbs, a book of wisdom written by male mentors to young men, is not complete without a portrait of a godly wife; “an excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels” (Proverbs 31:10). What follows is a composite of qualities worthy of praise, and indeed should be praised–“her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her” (v 28). Unlikely, however, that they rose before her, “she rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens” (v 15).
Read these twenty-two verses detailing her day (Proverbs 31:10-31) and you are worn out by the end. The description of this multi-talented, hard-working, strong, wise, wonderful woman may be hard to live up to, but it is a picture of the ideal, and it is written to the man, not the woman. Rather than a checklist to fulfill, this is a portrait to revise the image young men oft have of an ideal woman–“charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised” (v 30). The book of Proverbs is 31 chapters of wisdom. The last half of the last chapter is devoted to the description of a worthy wife. It took the previous thirty chapters to fashion a man worthy of her.
Daily Prayer
My Creator, You made me in Your image, male and female You made us. What a grand plan. Man and woman, husband and wife, together displaying Your glory.
God, may my love for my spouse bring you glory and honor. May I display Your wisdom in my marriage. And thank You, because this marriage thing, it is very good!
Amen