Proverbs 31:10-31

The Virtuous Woman: A Woman of Industry

0:00 The virtuous woman of Proverbs 31, whatever this virtuous woman is, she is a woman of industry and there isn't a lazy bone in her body. I went through last night and circled in red, starting in verse 12, all the verbs that point to what she does. Verse 12, she doeth him good. Verse 13, she seeks wool, works willingly with her hands.

0:34 She brings her bread from afar. She rises. She gives food. She considers a field.

0:42 With the fruit of her hands, she plants a vineyard. She girds her loins with strength. Verse 19, her hands, her hands. Verse 20, her hand.

0:55 Her hands to the needy. Verse 22, she makes. Verse 24, she makes. She sells.

The Contrast of Mouth and Hands

1:03 Verse 26, the only one that says anything about her mouth. Isn't it interesting? She opens her mouth with wisdom and the law of kindness is in her tongue. Then we're right back to what she does with the rest of her members.

1:17 She looks well to the ways of her household. Eats not the bread of idleness. In other words, she's not going to have her husband labor. At the expense of his sweat.

Rejecting Idleness and Earning Praise

1:28 And then she eats the bread that he's earned by his sweat while she's not expended any sweat. And then verse 31 says, this is what you do when you give her a tribute. Give her of the fruit of her hands and let her works praise her in the gates. So whatever else a virtuous woman is, if you men and women are determined to rear them under God, they're going to be diligent.

Diligence as a Manifestation of Godliness

1:53 And they're going to be diligent primarily with their hands. They're not their mouth, and they're going to be beautiful, not with what they can stick on from Max Factor or Helena Rubinstein or anybody else. Because he says, grace is deceitful and beauty is vain. But a woman that fears the Lord should be praised.

2:12 And it isn't interesting that the primary manifestation of the fear of God in this noble woman is in her hands. That is the part of her body that's mentioned more than anything else. The organ of labor. And that's true.

Scriptural Emphasis on Diligence and Warnings Against Idleness

2:26 And that's true throughout the scripture. Whatever thy hand finds to do, do with all of thy might as unto the Lord and not as unto men. And the greatest warning to young mothers and widows and women in the New Testament epistles has to do with the misuse, not of their hands, but of what? With all they go about, idle talkers, busybodies.

Discipline Over the Telephone

2:49 Dear women, if you must put yourself under a rigid discipline regarding your telephone, that wonderful instrument can be your curse. Because you don't need to take the time to leave your home to indulge the sins of the tongue at the expense of the labor of your hands. All you need to do is push it through numbers or pick up the thing out of the cradle. Some of you may need to exercise a discipline over that that to others may look like it's fanatical.

Embracing the Spirit of Proverbs 31 Diligence

3:20 But whatever you need to do, do it until Proverbs 31. Not in its. Particular cultural applications is true of you, but in its overall flavor of this diligent woman whose fear of God is manifested in her incessant diligence in the fulfillment of her household tasks as unto the Lord. May God help us to rear such a bevy of beautiful maidens for the rising generation.