Monday, February 15, 2010

All the days of her life...

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After listening to Rick speak last night about Purity, I was reminded of this passage in Proverbs 31:10-12 which states:

"An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life." ESV

Now, I am not attempting to make this into a beauty-pagent-like devotional where I am telling women: this is what you will never measure up to. That's not what I am saying at all. My heart's convictions behind this is to carry-over what Rick spoke about last night specifically in the area of porn/fantasizing and relationships and holding it to Thee Standard--God's Word.

Challenge #1 for myself (I don't get out of this either!) and all God-fearing women.

So this passage begins with the subject matter---an excellent wife and how she is difficult to find. She is rare and valuable like that of precious stones or jewels. We all like to feel significant from time-to-time correct? To feel like we stand-out, are different or set-apart from all the other women on the planet. This woman that is being described here is just that but it's not because of anything she has done to make herself look good or her efforts towards morals, it is because she fears the Lord (vs. 30). This woman has placed all of her trust, her desires, her abilities, her will and has fully submitted to God. I know that some of you maybe thinking “Well, ok this is all great Joni, but what if I don’t get married? What if I don’t have a husband to marry? Am I somewhat chasing after this level of excellence in vain? Not at all! Let’s remember that as a body, we are the “Bride of Christ.” Marriage in itself is an example of how Christ loves the church. Ultimately your submission to any authority or husband is out of fear and reverence for God---your underlying motive for striving for this excellence is to honor God--for what his Son, Jesus Christ, did on the cross and then rose again so that we could share in eternity with one another. It’s a hard thing to do: submission and fearing the Lord about everything else in this life and that is why this woman is rare.

Do you fear the Lord above everything? You don’t have to seek the approval of man—if you fear the Lord first, honoring anyone else including a husband, will come out of your love for God.

Challenge #2 for myself and all God-fearing women.

“The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.” Hmmm. Trust is such a difficult thing to obtain. I was listening to a Mark Driscoll sermon this morning in his Doctrinal series entitled “God Judges.” (http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/doctrine/fall-god-judges) In it he talks about the fall of humans and how things played-out in the Garden. In it he describes where “Sin Originated” and the role of both the woman and the man in the first sin that has condemned all humankind to separation from God. One thing he noted in scripture was that once Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit they became aware of their nakedness and covered themselves. This act of covering revealed a lack of trust between the two of them and shame in dishonoring God. When God asked Adam about what happened, he addressed himself as “I” instead of “We.” Adam lost trust in Eve because of the sin that was just created in eating the forbidden fruit. So fast-forward to this passage---how is it then that a man’s heart can trust in a woman? Again, it goes back to where this woman’s heart is located and who SHE places her trust in. The man can trust his wife because she is placing her trust in God—so the man is ultimately reaping from God. Because of the fall, we women are extremely deceitful and manipulative. We know exactly which buttons to push and what words to say to get what we want: a man should not put his hope or trust in a woman without God at the center. In this passage not only can the man trust his wife but he can prosper because of it. “He will have no lack of gain.” God desires us to trust Him and since we are made in His image, our desire to be trusted as women really stems from that quality of God. The fact that the man in his verse trusts his wife shows that original, authentic vulnerability of love that God created in the Garden between Adam and Eve when things were “very good.”

First, do you have your trust in God as a woman? Have you submitted all of your manipulative and controlling characteristics to Him? Do you desire to be trusted?

Challenge #3 for myself and all other God-fearing women

Ok, the verse that really inspired me to write this devotional in the first place.
“She does him good, not harm, all the days of her life.” All the days of her life. Rick spoke about the startling statistic that the number of women partaking in porn is growing faster than men. Youch. The very topic that most women would say destroys them and steals from their marriage or relationship is now what they are participating in. No woman wants to be compared to those women in magazines, the tv or online. Gosh, we have enough trouble looking at ourselves in the mirror everyday we don’t need an airbrushed, made-up, fantasy-super woman to compare ourselves to. For any guy who is reading this---I don’t care how much pleasure you get from it, if you have any love in your heart, you should stop immediately from filling your mind with that crap and learn to live in the real-world. I won’t go any farther with addressing guys because I will more than likely destroy my computer in the process because it angers me so much  …but seriously. Back to the statistic—ladies, ladies, ladies. What are we doing to ourselves? It may not be looking at images of “perfect guys” but in the same sense of a man comparing us to pornstars, we do the same when we over-fantisize in romance novels and movies. I am all about fairy-tales and happily ever-afters, I think that there’s a reason we love stories involving princes and dragons and being rescued; however, we can’t expect a man to fill our every need. So what does this have to do with the phrase “all the days of her life”? Well, for those of you who are married, how would your husband feel if you were to tell him that he was not good enough or that he is failing because he doesn’t look like some movie star or act like some character from a book? Even greater weight is on those of us who are not married yet and do not know who our husbands will be. How would your husband feel if you were fantasizing and filling your mind with images and ideas of who and what he should be like before you even meet the poor guy? It’s identical to him filling his mind with porn images and how you are to look and act before he knows you. We need to guard our hearts ladies, big time. Again, it all goes back to who are you fearing? Who are your placing your trust and hope in? Edward Collins? (Yuck. Lol sorry, not such a fan of Twilight….I know, I know Ashley  ) But seriously, I am pleading with myself as I plead to any XX chromosome person to put your hope in God. To be content in Him and this passage—this list of qualities of an excellent wife will be obtainable. Not because of anything you’ve done but because of the work of our Great and Glorious HOLY and PURE God and Savior, Jesus Christ in you.