A Wonderful Wife part 2 - The Proverbs 31 Woman

Well, all right, let's turn to Proverbs chapter 31. I think we all know where Proverbs 31 is. And to be honest with you, all of Proverbs is a little worn in this copy. When I say this copy, I've got two or three Bibles that I will use and I have taught through Proverbs using my English Standard Version. And I can go back and see where I've spent time in certain portions. And I hope that you are the same way. One of the things that I have desired to do is to push you and instill in you and encourage you to develop some type of plan to continuously go through Proverbs.

Whether it's reading a proverb a day, taking the whole month and studying or coming back and forth, I taught with a brother in Christ yesterday who said that about every three months he goes through Proverbs. About every three months I thought that's a good plan. And that's one of the reasons why I have not covered all of the verses because I wanted to leave something there for you to study. All right, tonight we're gonna pick back up in verse 13 and we're gonna go down to verse 22. It's been a couple of weeks since we've been here in Proverbs 31. Everybody knows that. We did enjoy that Thanksgiving break last week. And a break can be good.

Thanksgiving holidays are good. Certain holidays that we celebrate are good. And it is a good thing for us to travel and go see family. I have heard some say, you know, I just enjoyed the time to be at home because of work and other responsibilities. So when we have a break like that, it's to give you the time to spend with family, to get that rest. And last week was a good thing. But you know, as I got back in the Proverbs 31, something hit me and I jumped right in Proverbs 31 as quick as I could in the week. You know, it's okay to have a break like we had this past week, but we can't take a break from God.

We can't take a break from His word. And we really don't need to take a break from what we're studying together. Think about this. We're on two trains. We've been on the train of Proverbs. And then we are on this train still in the Sermon on the Mount. And even though we might take a break, it's good for us to stay on that study, stay on that train, so that it can be kept in our minds and in our hearts. And you know, you might need to go back and look at some of your notes. I did that. I wanted to make sure that I had what we've been studying still fresh in my mind because all of this does connect.

So maybe your study of Proverbs 31 is a little dusty. That's the case, dust it off. Let's get back together in this chapter because this all does come together. It's really a couple of big messages, but it all ties together. Okay, we've had two messages so far and we have learned that this chapter is called what? It's an oracle of God. Remember, we have learned what an oracle from God is. Look at verse one. The words of King Lemiel, an oracle that his mother taught him. Now, scholars debate as to who these individuals were, but we believe, I believe that this is Solomon and this mother is his mother by Sheba who poured these truths into him.

And then he turned around and penned these words. This is what we see and understand is an oracle from God. We saw this back in chapter 30 as well. And we learned that an oracle is a lot more than maybe meets the eye. An oracle is first and foremost, the words of God. Sometimes they're called a prophecy, but we know that this was a word, a prophecy that was given by God to his people. But also within an oracle, this oracle, we do have Solomon, we have his mother by Sheba. So we have a powerful authoritative message from God, but we have Solomon, but really we have especially to me by Sheba in the message.

And you know, as I have read and meditated, gone back over this, I can just see that these verses are swelling with this mother, this wife, by Sheba. Now think about what we have here in the chapter. I said that Proverbs 31 is a beautiful portrait of a marvelous mother. I said that we have this gorgeous portrait of this wonderful wife. We have the Mona Lisa of biblical teaching for women. We have the Mona Lisa of biblical teaching for mothers and for wives. And really it doesn't get any more beautiful than this. Do we all know who the Mona Lisa is or was? Is or was because the portrait still exists.

The Mona Lisa is considered one of the most valuable and most famous portraits in the world. The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci back in the early 1500s. There's some debate as to how long they really think that he worked on that portrait for 15 plus years. And it really has a very intriguing story. Go back and look if you like history. It's really interesting to see what happened to the Mona Lisa all throughout history, even our recent history. It's believed to be a portrait of an Italian noblewoman or possibly a French noblewoman. Really there are multiple theories. And we really can't know who this particular woman was.

But the Mona Lisa is said to be the most visited. It's said to be the most written about, even the most sung about. It's said to be the most well-known portrait in the world. Art critics, experts and the like, really many others as well, consider the Mona Lisa to be the most beautiful portrait ever painted. I don't know. You might feel that way, you might not. Well, that's what we have here in Proverbs 31. We have this beautiful portrait of a godly wife, a godly mother. And I say Proverbs 31 is the Mona Lisa of what a godly woman, a godly wife, a godly mother should be.

And really and truly, well as I got back into this chapter earlier in the week, I started asking myself a question. How much should we study this teaching? Should we study this and move on and just look back years later and haven't forgotten this? How often should we study this? In what context should we study this? I'll be honest with you, this is a chapter that we should come back to periodically, maybe in a small group Bible study, maybe in a different series, but I think we should come back to this chapter because it is so important in the future and we will. Now I wanna remind you of the breakdown that we've been working with.

And this is the broad breakdown of the chapter. It's just not our teaching outline, but this kind of information does help. First we have what I call the marvelous mother, verses one to nine, we covered that in one message. What does verse two say? What are you doing my son? What are you doing son of my womb? So the mother is speaking to this son. And then the second breakdown is what I have called the wonderful wife and that starts in verse 10. And that goes all the way to the end of the chapter, verse 10 and verse 11, an excellent wife who can find, see how the subject changes? She is far more precious than jewels.

And then we see in verse 11, the heart of her husband. So we see this wonderful wife, this husband, this marriage, this relationship. Now two weeks ago, we started this section that's called the wonderful wife, verses 10 to 31. We only covered verses 10 to 19. And we studied her wonderful marriage in verse 10 and 12. It's good stuff. Maybe go back and look at that. And then we started to study what I called her wonderful work ethic. I didn't get into any of the details. We got some details to dig up. So we're gonna pick back up with this main truth, main truth number two.

We're gonna pick back up with that and we're gonna go a little bit deeper here. So when I give you the information, you're gonna see the truth that we covered before. Number one, the wonderful marriage. Then part of what we covered, the wonderful work ethic. And I say part because we didn't go as deep. And then we're gonna look at two more shorter truths, verse 20 all the way to verse 22, her wonderful compassion and her wonderful resilience. Now I'll just go back and forth between my notes and the passages as we continue along. I won't read all of the verses because of time. I try to be careful with our time.

There's a lot that we can cover here. And I'm spending a little more time in some areas that I feel like just are important. And again, it could be that there's another day when we're in this chapter and I spend a little more time somewhere else because we really could spend a lot more time here in these verses. So number two, this is where we were a couple of weeks ago. We're finishing this up. I call this her wonderful work ethic. Look at verse 13. She seeks wool and flax and she works with willing hands. She is like the ships of a merchant. She brings her food from afar.

She rises while it is still night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. Verse 16, she considers a field and she buys it with the fruit of her hands. She plants a vineyard. She dresses herself with strength. She makes her arms strong. She perceives that her merchandise is profitable and her lamp does not go out at night. And then the last verse, she puts her hands to the distaff and her hands hold the spindle. Now, like I said, we've already looked at this portion of scripture. I said that we are not looking at a pattern here. Remember, I said when we looked at this earlier that we're not looking at a pattern.

This is not a rigid mold. Don't make this a rigid mold to form people into, women into. Every woman and family will relate to this teaching different. So we need to be on guard here of making a list, making rules, making a rigid mold. I'm gonna come back to that. Now, remember the illustration I gave you here? It's a pretty contemporary illustration about this woman operating in her home. One resource that I read a couple of weeks ago shared that this mother was the quarterback of her home. That resonated with some of you because you shared that with me. She calls the place, remember? She sets the players of the home in their proper place.

She executes the game plan of the home. I added to what the author had given. I said she is the quarterback while her husband is the team owner. Why? Because he's the head of the home. Now I like that. I think that illustration is good. And I think it helps us. Now as we continue, I want you to see if you can identify where she's the quarterback of the home. I think you'll see it. I think you'll take note of it. Now, a couple of weeks ago, I gave us two broad observations. We saw that she worked with her hands. She saw, we saw that she worked with her head, all right?

Now, as we get into the details, I want you to see where her working with her hands and working with her head is woven all through here, really all mixed up together. So first, I want you to see that she provides food and clothing for her family. She provides food and clothing really for her household. This is in verse 13 to 15, and then over into verse 19. She seeks wool and flak. She works with willing hands. She's like a ship, a merchant ship. She brings food from afar. She rises early while it is still night. She provides food for her household. Now, notice the clothing that she makes. We see that in verse 13. She seeks wool and flak.

She works with willing hands. And then we also see it in verse 19. She puts her hands to the distaff and her hands hold the spindle. Wool and flaks were used for making thread it was used for making cloth. The distaff and the spindle were tools. And those were tools that were used to turn the wool into thread for making clothes. So those verses are all about clothes. Now question, was she using her hands or was she using her head? And another question, and this is an important question. Do women have to make their own clothes today? See, remember, we can't make this a rigid mold and we need to ask certain questions.

Do women have to make their own clothes today? Hold on to that question because we're gonna come back to that. But notice the food she prepares. Verse 14, she's like a ship, a merchant ship. She brings food from afar. She rises early while it is still night and she provides food for her household. Verse 14 says she's like a merchant ship that's going and coming. She is like a merchant ship that travels great distances and returns home to the home port, loaded down with products from afar. Now let's put this in modern language. I ran across this in some information and I kinda added to it for us. I kinda made it our own in modern language.

She goes to the grocery store. She goes to the farmer's market. She goes anywhere locally or even further to buy the best foods at the best bargains, all for her home. She fills her shopping cart and her car trunk with the best foods and the best bargains, all for her home. Now that she has the food, what does verse 17 say? Or verse 15. It says that she rises early to prepare that food for her household. But notice who is in her home. Look at verse 15. She provides food for her household and also the maidens or maidservants who seem to work in her home.

So it seems that she's providing for her own family and then those who possibly work for her. Now question, was she using her head or was she using her hands? Oh, to go far and wide to find the best deals for her family, she had to use her head. But we do see she's using her hands. But here's another question. Do women prepare food today the same way they did then? See these two questions. Do women have to sew their own clothes today? And do women prepare food today the way they did then? We're gonna come back to that. Second observation. She works long hours when they are needed.

We see this in the beginning of verse 15 and the end of verse 18. I almost see these, these bookends. She rises while it is still night. And then the end of verse 18, she perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Here's the verse. Her lamp does not go out at night. Now, I don't know how this really played out, but I couldn't help but just use my imagination here, okay? And this is kinda how I see these activities. I think you'll be okay with the way I handle these verses. I want you to look at the verses and I want you to follow me, okay? Starting in verse 15. It's like she wakes up and she feeds her family and those who work for her.

Maybe she prepares food for the rest of the day in verse 15. Then she goes out and she checks on that field she's seen for sale. And after the deal is worked, that works out. She makes that deal. We see that in verse 16. And then she plants a vineyard. She plants a vineyard in that field. Maybe with the help of those handmaidens, those who work for her in verse 16. Well, how does she do all this? She does all this because she's a very strong woman. Verse 17. And then after her vineyard begins to produce, she sells the merchandise there in the market. Maybe it's grapes from the vineyard. Maybe it's wine from the vineyard.

Maybe some of the clothes that she's been making all along. We see this in verse 18. And she stays up late when she needs to so she can be ready for the next day. Now I'm not saying that's exactly the way her day worked out. Maybe my imagination is gone a little awry. I don't know. But I think you'll see what I mean by that. We see how she was willing to work long hours to get a lot done. I kind of see them as bookends. Remember those questions? Was she working with her head or was she working with her hands? And another question. Do women have to work like this today? But third, she is involved in business outside the home. Verse 16 and 18.

She considers that field. She buys it and then she plants it. Then she dresses herself with that strength that we talked about. And then verse 18, she perceives that her merchandise is profitable and her lamp does not go out at night. Here we see that she has this entrepreneurial spirit. I like that. Here we see she's ambitious. She's pretty ambitious. Ambitious in a big way. As I see it, she considers the field. Maybe she hears of the field that it's for sale and then she goes out, she takes a look and when she determines that she can make the deal and the deal is good for her, she makes the purchase. Now see what's happening next.

A lot of this overlaps, I know. After she buys the field, she plants the field. Why? How? Because she's strong, verse 17. She's resourceful. So she plants that field to make it more productive and more profitable. And then in verse 18, we see the results. Profits, profits for the home. She using her hands? Is she using her head? And the other question, do women have to work like this today? Now in summary, notice what we have seen here with this wonderful wife. She works with her hands and she works with her head. It's really all mixed together, isn't it? She provides food and clothing for her home.

She even cares for those who would work for her. She works long hours when it is needed and she is even a good business woman. She has that ambition, that entrepreneurial spirit. But we must see the purpose. Why'd she do all this? It was for the home. She was home centered. It was to benefit the home. Verse 11 says that her husband has nothing but gain because of her efforts. Remember the little phrase I used? No shame, only gain. In all of her efforts here, it was all home centered. That's why the husband had no shame, all gain.

I knew a lady once and she was a stay at home mom and she chose to homeschool her children and she did a really good job homeschooling her children too. But you know she had this entrepreneurial, ambitious spirit and she started this business on the side. She would go to particular stores and she would buy certain items. She would buy clothing at Good Deals and she had a little eBay business and she would sell those products on eBay. And I was shocked when I found out how much money she made and she would make that money and she would accumulate that money.

Her husband was off working hard and see she was home centered and she would make that money not for self and she set it aside and every year that was their vacation money. And they went on some pretty good vacations. I also know a lady, her and her husband happened to have a business, a storefront type business. And you know they owned the business and managed the business and worked the business. And I watched this lady as she had children, she began to train employees to do what she used to do. See those maid servants? And she trained those employees to do what she used to do so she could spend time in her home more when she had children.

And see she still had her business but yet she was more home focused and home centered and her home didn't suffer. I think those two examples might help you. But let me ask you a question. Can a woman work outside the home? That's a big debate among some. Now with the Proverbs 31 woman we see that she did. And I have to believe that a woman can work outside the home. But look, her work must benefit her husband first because he's the leader of the home. And her work must benefit the home life. Her work must benefit the children. Her work must benefit and be a blessing to the family not a detriment to the family.

And you know the home must be in order. The home must be in order in two ways. First, the family relationships. Those must be in order. She can't lead, the husband leads. The husband leads, the wife is submissive to the husband and the children under that. So we must have this proper biblical family order. There must be order in the home. But then there must be practical orderliness. There must be practical order in the home. Let me say it like that. And so sometimes a wife can't work outside the home because of the order of the home. Sometimes the age of the children, you know, comes into the play there. So there must be order in the home.

I've known people, they just don't have any order at home. It's like a circus. All of this stuff comes into play. But remember what I said earlier. We can't make a rigid mold. We can't make a pattern and everybody fits into the pattern the same way. We can't make hard and fast rules out of this teaching. One mistake that people will make is this. They'll say all godly women must make their own clothes. I've known people that would take this kind of teaching and say, oh godly women just make their own clothes. Well, in 1730, that was the truth. But we don't live in the 1700s anymore. But what we must see here is the principle.

It's the principle that we see here. A wife and a mother sees to the needs of the family, the food and the clothing. Those are just those motherly things. I was talking to my wife today as I was studying this and I used this language. I said, no, those are motherly things. That's not me, you got it. So sometimes people can make this kind of stuff rigid. Oh, a godly woman's gonna sew and do all that. Just provide the needs. That's the point. That's the principle. Another mistake some will make. They'll say all godly women cannot work outside of the home. But we must see the principle here.

This woman worked outside the home so much so that she bought a field and she planted it and she worked it. But the point here, the principle here is this. Wives and mothers must be home centered. They must be home centered. And if they work outside the home, it cannot be a detriment to the home. It must be a benefit to the home. It must make the home better. So we look for these principles. We don't force this into a rigid pattern. And that's why sometimes it can look a little different to somebody over here to the right and then a little different than somebody over here to your left. Now, why do I spend so much time here?

Why did I spend so much time here? There's so many mistakes that are made here. So many people get out of balance here. I mentioned some of this last week. Three ways people can get out of balance. First, the wife can stay at home and she can be lazy as can be. I mean, she's stay at home, mom, and you go to the, go home and go to their home and it's just organized chaos. It's a mess and it's just a circus. But then the other way people can get out of balance is the wife works in such a way where the home life suffers. I've known that. The wife makes a good living and there's plenty of money in the bank, but the family suffers.

But then the third way that people can get out of balance here is the wife and the husband can be so rigid here. They can have rules and it can be so artificial and it can be so square and so rigid and it's just out of balance. And you could probably add to that. And there are two words I wanna leave you with here. Balance and principles. Look for the principles taught here. Balance and principles, balance and principles. Remember our imagination by Sheba? If she spent a few weeks with you in your home, ladies, how would she comment? Would she pick up on your laziness?

Would she say that your work or certain things you do outside the home hurt the home? I mean, would she say your home is out of order, not structured right? Of course, we all have bad days. I know that. I know that. Well, let's move on. I want us to see number three. This is gonna be a little quicker. Number three, what I'm calling her wonderful compassion. Her wonderful compassion. Look at verse 20. "She opens her hand to the poor "and she reaches out her hands to the needy." Really and truly, if you keep reading these verses, this verse almost seems like it's just stuck in there, like it's out of place.

It almost seems like it's out of place. And then we see this shift. You see, it's family, this verse on the needy and the poor, and then it shifts back to the home. But I don't think this is here in this way by accident at all. Personally, I think it's timely. Maybe Solomon is showing us that his godly mother is busy with the family, but she makes time for the poor and needy while she's busy with the family. 'Cause this is stuck right in the middle of all the busyness with the family. Simply, what do we see here? She is unselfish. She shares.

She devotes all of our time to her home, but she doesn't ignore the poor and the needy that are around her. And to me, she does two things if you glance at the verse. First, she opens up her hand to give. She opens her hand to give. Second, she reaches out to touch. I know people who can give, but they can't touch. You're gonna have a hard time touching without giving. I know people who can give, but they never can touch. But I'm gonna tell you, if you have a heart to touch the poor and the needy, you'll give. And remember, all of this is for gain. Remember her husband's reputation? He has a great reputation. This is all for gain, no shame.

And the gain here is reputation, because this husband's reputation is this. Oh, his wife, she's generous. So what do we see? She has this wonderful compassion. And see, for us, we all must see that we should make time for the poor and the needy that are around us. But some really important questions come up when we make these kind of statements. Where are they, who are they, where are they, and who are they? See, we can't just go all over the place with caring for the needy and the poor, because we don't have enough money. First, we should always look to minister in the church. That's the number one place. That's where and that's how.

Listen to Galatians 6.10. Gives us the standard of the starting place. Galatians 6.10 says, Paul says, so then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. That's where you start. If you see a need to your left, or you see a need to your right, that's where you meet the need. And some of you in here, and some of you in the life of the church might say, you mean to tell me I could be a poor and needy person? Yes, I have been one. I have had needs. And somebody in God's household needed to meet those needs. So that's where you start. You start in the household of God.

And then second, we should seek to do good in our community. It becomes a wonderful witness. We can share Christ and show Christ. It's a wonderful way to share the gospel in the community. And that's where we can need discretion, because there can be all kinds of needs outside of the church body that you just can't meet them all. And sometimes you need the spirit of God to help you. Now I thought about this, listen. It would be a big sin for you to meet the needs of the poor and needy outside of the church while you ignore the needs of the poor and needy in the church.

What Paul say, so then as you have opportunity, you might not have the opportunity today, but you might have the opportunity tomorrow, let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith. So if you meet needs everywhere in the world, but you're not meeting needs in the church, that's a sin. But you could turn it around. You will not be sinning if you meet the needs of the poor and needy in the church and you ignore the needs that you can't meet out in the world. You see, we start here. I never forget years ago when I was a youth pastor, there was some parents that were just on tough times.

They were just, they were having a hard time financially. And I always had people that would help with ministry events and things like that. And we paid for their children to go. Somebody else paid for their children to go. And we just, we foot the bill for that. And then when that person caught up, they came up to me with money. They came up to me with fist full of cash and say, y'all helped me when I needed it. Now I'm helping. And they did it in the household of faith in the church. So this woman, this Proverbs 31 woman is all about having compassion. So my question we're using Ba' Sheba as we wrap these points up.

If Ba' Sheba was in your home and in our home, how might she critique how we minister to others? How we use our monies, how we use our possessions and how we relate to those who are poor and needy around us. And remember what I said now, there's a difference with just giving an open hand and touching. We give yes, but we must touch as well. And then number four, notice her wonderful resilience. First 21 and 22. She's not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet. We're gonna talk about that word. She makes bed coverings for herself. Her clothing is fine linen and purple.

Now the attention goes right back to her family. I think you see that. Really her heart and her attention were never away from her family. You see her heart, it was never away from her family. She just looked to her left and right with compassion. But here we see a specific need that speaks to her resilience. Now there are two things I wanna speak to here. First, the circumstance. It's at the beginning of verse 21. Snow, cold, the elements. Isn't that what the verse says? She is not afraid of snow for her household. Now scholars tell us that this is speaking to living in higher altitudes in the region.

It seems that they were living in a region of Palestine where they could encounter snow. So this is a particular circumstance. Winter time, snow, cold, and she's not afraid of it. Now you gotta remember in that day, this could have been life and death. But then second, the need was met. Look at the rest of the verse. For all of her household, her clothing scarlet, she makes bed coverings for herself. Her clothing is fine linen and purple. Now what does this wonderful wife do here for the family? The rest of the verse shows us. First, she provided the right clothes. Second, she provided the right bedding.

You gotta remember these people didn't have houses like we do. I mean they were nomadic. They lived in tents. They lived out in the elements compared to how we live. But first, look at the clothes here. Now I'm referencing the English standard and it says the word scarlet. There is a debate as to the meaning of the word. It can be and is best translated double garment. And there's two reasons for that. First, color has nothing to do with the context, the circumstance. Also the word is never used in that manner in the rest of the scripture. Simply this scarlet colored garment was the garment that was suited for the cold.

It can be called a double garment and it happened to be red. But then second, the bedding. She makes sure that her family has the appropriate bedding for winter. Yes, these are fine and expensive items. It seems that she was providing really expensive but yet adequate bedding from her family. One scholar I read said maybe this came from her entrepreneurial spirit. Maybe it came from her business on the side. But what do we see here? The wonderful wife here, the mother, the marvelous mother is resilient even in tough circumstances and we can't fathom how these people lived.

She can provide for her family even when the elements were working hard against her family. And it seems that she provided some very nice things here. No shame, just gain. But you know there's a lesson here for us that might surprise you. We don't live in tents. We're not nomadic. But here's the lesson that we must learn. This lesson of resilience. We have to be resilient in tough times when they come upon our family. Now a question, when tough times come for the family, ladies, can you provide for the family? Are you resilient? Are you resilient or do you panic? Do you get depressed? Do you just fold?

You see, when tough time comes, these were threatening circumstances. Why does the verse say she is not afraid of the snow? It was life or death. And so for us, for you ladies, when tough time comes, are you resilient? And then do you take the step to be thrifty? And then are you strong like we see in verse 17? And then do you step up to provide for your family the way you should? You know lately I've been making these statements. Have I ever told you the story of? Have I ever told you the story about when we used to eat steaks on Friday nights?

Most of you know that I was 10 years in full time ministry and then spent a bit of time out of full time ministry and I worked construction for a little while. And I took a significant pay cut. Significant. I'm thankful that I had a very low debt. Vehicles were paid far. I would have had to sell a lot of things. So things got really tight around the Shepherd household. But I'm thankful my wife never panicked. We had small children. And while I was off at home working, she was resilient and she was thrifty and she was like that merchant ship. She shopped here and there far and wide.

And sometimes I would come home and she would smile and she'd say, "Oh, they had steaks on sale "at the Piggly Wiggly." And when times were tough, we were still eating a steak every now and then. You see? I've known some ladies when their husbands had difficult times financially, they couldn't make it. What does the verse say? It says that she wasn't afraid of the cold. Some women are afraid if their husband says, "Hmm, I'm getting a dumb motion. "I knew a man one time had a very lucrative job. "He had one of those lucrative jobs "where the other guys, when they had that job, "they lived high on the hog.

"But when he was working like that, "he was putting that money away. "And then when that lucrative job didn't last, "he just went right back home, no panic. "They were resilient. "And trials are gonna come to the family." Now remember, by Sheba, if she stayed in our home, if she observed you and us when tough times came, what would she say? Now I wanna close the way I did a couple of weeks ago. This is the Proverbs 31 woman. "We're studying the wonderful wife. "We're not covering it all, I know." And I wanna close by asking us to listen. Let's don't be just listeners and hearers. Let's don't just write a few notes and nod our head.

Let's be doers of the word. I know it was a little corny to some, but I use the example of the ear. E, we must evaluate honestly. I mean, to be honest with you, my wife and I today over the telephone evaluated some things in our home based on this. It's not enough just to evaluate and evaluate honesty. We must submit to that authority. E-A, the authority. The authority of what God's word says. If God's word brings you to the place here where you evaluate and you're honest, then you must are repent. Because if something's not right and God's word shows you, you must repent. I said this a couple of weeks ago.

I'm sorry is not in the Bible, but repentance is. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with saying I'm sorry. I've said I'm sorry to the Lord a many a time and if it's hitched to repentance, well then it's good and godly. But what am I showing you? Let's evaluate our homes. That's why this is just as much for men as it is women. Listen ladies, if you're the quarterback of the home and us men, if we're the team owners because we're the leaders, this is as much for us. Sometimes we as men have to step up and say to our wives, there's some things that are not right here. But yet sometimes you ladies will notice some of these things.

So let's evaluate honestly. Let's submit to the authority of God's word and let's repent where we need to repent. Now Solomon is speaking, Bathsheba is speaking. Just read through this and think about her. Think about her. She's all in these verses folks. I mean, these verses are pregnant with this lady. We know that this is Solomon as well. He's the one pinning the words. So Bathsheba is speaking, Solomon is speaking, but God is speaking. And you know, I'll close with this. I've wondered what type of spiritual renewal would take place in our families if we really took this stuff serious and worked through it all.

I wonder what would take place. Some of us might not ever see it. It might only be behind closed doors. It might only be your children that see it. Oh, but I think it would impact the church. Make the church better. Make your witness better, make your marriage better, make your children better, make your home life better. Every bit of it. Make your finances better. Make your job life better. Yes. So what are we looking at? The Proverbs 31 woman, this wonderful wife, really is wonderful wife continued part two.