Proverbs 31 Woman (P31W) - Part VI - OR - Maybe a Woman’s Greatest Calling. (Proverbs 31:26-27).
26 Her words are sensible,
and her advice
is thoughtful.
(NIV - She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue).
My words are rarely sensible. I am probably at 30% at being thoughtful if that... I’m still working on some of these elements! I prefer the NIV translation for this verse.
“She SPEAKS with WISDOM and FAITHFUL INSTRUCTION is on her tongue. How many verses are there about the un-tameable tongue? James says, “...but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison” and “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness” (James 3:8-9).
And yet we’re called to speak (always) with (good) wisdom and faithful instruction. If we carry over some early virtues it gets even more daunting. Wisdom means having experience, knowledge, and good judgment. It DOESN’T mean having all the answers to life’s persistent questions. It means we have the character quality of being wise. A P31W should have a “soundness of action or decision” in applying and counseling with her experience, knowledge, and good judgment. It can mean just plain common sense a lot of the time. It can mean that we are giving an outsider perspective to a situation that doesn’t have us emotionally involved. It may mean experience we’ve had, or some friend has had or some biblical character had or favorite novel or movie character had that we can apply with wisdom to the here and now. We compile all our knowledge and observations of life and the bible to advise WISELY. All the time. Always.
When we speak, we should always be saying something of faithful instruction. Instruction means direction, order or teaching. Not only should we be talking about our God experiences, but giving each other Christ-like direction and teachings. Kind of intimidating...
We do not always give good counsel and probably only have faithful instruction on our tongues 25% or less of the time depending on age and experience. Aka - the reason Titus says,
“Teach the older women to be reverent (or respectful) in the way they live, not to be slanderers (gossips?) or addicted to much wine (or anything unwholesome in excess?), but to teach what is good (that four letter word again...). Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign (criticize) the word of God.”
Oh ladies of sagacity and experience, you have an even bigger responsibility to be teaching others all these traits. Not only are we all to be learning this stuff, we’re to pass it on. I hate to say this but, older women, you need to get it. You need to stay relevant to modern society so you can wisely speak faithful instruction to the younger generation. Younger generation, you need to get it. You need to know Christ and live like Christ without a shadow of a doubt and be a pillar for the next generation that you can then in turn counsel them. Women, we’re not doing this currently. We do not encourage younger women to seek older mentors. We do not encourage women’s groups to be of diverse ages. But we should. We should have mentor programs at our church where older women are available and can be solicited for mentorship. We should have a standard in our churches and communities that it is okay to find an older woman to speak God and wisdom into our lives. And if we don’t start preparing ourselves for such a spirit of approachability that younger girls could approach and ask one to be their mentor, something is wrong with our lives, our observable faith, our outreach to the generation following us. We need to learn to speak wisdom that others can hear and receive. We need to learn that in the smallest situation, we speak faithful instruction and encourage Christ-like direction.
Example: Or maybe this is more a comment: you can tell about women. You can tell if you’d be good friends or not. I’m very picky about women. I really don’t like women as a gender. We tend to be mean, catty, judgemental and cruel, so by all means, be choosy in finding a mentor. But you can tell if a woman has wisdom or just years of churchism under her belt. You can tell if a woman is truly in the word and a fountain of Christ-encouragement or not. I challenge you to find someone to be a mentor. Find someone to encourage you and listen to your spiritual journey. It can be easier to talk about this stuff with someone new, that doesn’t know your whole life’s story. They have most likely already been through what you’re experiencing now. They SHOULD be able to help you.That’s their calling. If you’re unsure about finding someone, talk to someone for help. Talk to a trusted friend for help in finding a solid, legit mentor. I dare you.
27 She takes good care
of her family
and is never lazy.
(NIV - She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness).
Good is once again being mentioned. She takes GOOD CARE of her family. That’s doable. AND is never lazy. Oi vey. The NIV employs a supervisor connotation saying, “She watches over the affairs of her household.” She oversees and manages, she takes good care of everyone. That’s self-explanatory.
Proverbs 10:4 says, “Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.” Idleness means to not be working, to be inactive or unemployed. It’s not referring to unemployment, but to those that refuse all forms of work. Personally, I can’t think of anything worse that being idle for very long. It’s nice to have time off to rejuvenate, but I’m of a nature to always need tasks before me.
In this context, Ecclesiastes 10:18 is a pretty good picture of our context here: “If a man is lazy, the rafters sag; if his hands are idle, the house leaks.” Aka: a woman not watching over her household will have a house falling around her ears and a lazy woman will have a roof that leaks during Dr. Who episodes. A woman (or man for that matter) that is not concerned with taking good care of the family or family unit is courting trouble that will probably take awhile to undo. Building families is a whole different topic I won’t get into here, but I don’t think I’m left field to mention it being a possible inference here. Maybe, maybe not. Supervise your family and take good care of them.
More NEXT TIME in P31W Part VII!!!!
DISCLAIMER: I am not a trained biblical scholar. I am just curious, bible hungry and care for my gender and our crazy methods of learning and growing as Christian women in a world that has a pretty skewed image of what women are or should be. If at any point you see a huge flaw in my logic or addition that needs to be added to the interpretation, please contact me and help me to correct or add to my expounding on this chapter.
I do not claim to have all the answers or have the CORRECT translation and meaning of all the verses in this series. I am just digging and sharing my findings and research concerning this chapter.
5/2013
and her advice
is thoughtful.
(NIV - She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue).
My words are rarely sensible. I am probably at 30% at being thoughtful if that... I’m still working on some of these elements! I prefer the NIV translation for this verse.
“She SPEAKS with WISDOM and FAITHFUL INSTRUCTION is on her tongue. How many verses are there about the un-tameable tongue? James says, “...but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison” and “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness” (James 3:8-9).
And yet we’re called to speak (always) with (good) wisdom and faithful instruction. If we carry over some early virtues it gets even more daunting. Wisdom means having experience, knowledge, and good judgment. It DOESN’T mean having all the answers to life’s persistent questions. It means we have the character quality of being wise. A P31W should have a “soundness of action or decision” in applying and counseling with her experience, knowledge, and good judgment. It can mean just plain common sense a lot of the time. It can mean that we are giving an outsider perspective to a situation that doesn’t have us emotionally involved. It may mean experience we’ve had, or some friend has had or some biblical character had or favorite novel or movie character had that we can apply with wisdom to the here and now. We compile all our knowledge and observations of life and the bible to advise WISELY. All the time. Always.
When we speak, we should always be saying something of faithful instruction. Instruction means direction, order or teaching. Not only should we be talking about our God experiences, but giving each other Christ-like direction and teachings. Kind of intimidating...
We do not always give good counsel and probably only have faithful instruction on our tongues 25% or less of the time depending on age and experience. Aka - the reason Titus says,
“Teach the older women to be reverent (or respectful) in the way they live, not to be slanderers (gossips?) or addicted to much wine (or anything unwholesome in excess?), but to teach what is good (that four letter word again...). Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign (criticize) the word of God.”
Oh ladies of sagacity and experience, you have an even bigger responsibility to be teaching others all these traits. Not only are we all to be learning this stuff, we’re to pass it on. I hate to say this but, older women, you need to get it. You need to stay relevant to modern society so you can wisely speak faithful instruction to the younger generation. Younger generation, you need to get it. You need to know Christ and live like Christ without a shadow of a doubt and be a pillar for the next generation that you can then in turn counsel them. Women, we’re not doing this currently. We do not encourage younger women to seek older mentors. We do not encourage women’s groups to be of diverse ages. But we should. We should have mentor programs at our church where older women are available and can be solicited for mentorship. We should have a standard in our churches and communities that it is okay to find an older woman to speak God and wisdom into our lives. And if we don’t start preparing ourselves for such a spirit of approachability that younger girls could approach and ask one to be their mentor, something is wrong with our lives, our observable faith, our outreach to the generation following us. We need to learn to speak wisdom that others can hear and receive. We need to learn that in the smallest situation, we speak faithful instruction and encourage Christ-like direction.
Example: Or maybe this is more a comment: you can tell about women. You can tell if you’d be good friends or not. I’m very picky about women. I really don’t like women as a gender. We tend to be mean, catty, judgemental and cruel, so by all means, be choosy in finding a mentor. But you can tell if a woman has wisdom or just years of churchism under her belt. You can tell if a woman is truly in the word and a fountain of Christ-encouragement or not. I challenge you to find someone to be a mentor. Find someone to encourage you and listen to your spiritual journey. It can be easier to talk about this stuff with someone new, that doesn’t know your whole life’s story. They have most likely already been through what you’re experiencing now. They SHOULD be able to help you.That’s their calling. If you’re unsure about finding someone, talk to someone for help. Talk to a trusted friend for help in finding a solid, legit mentor. I dare you.
27 She takes good care
of her family
and is never lazy.
(NIV - She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness).
Good is once again being mentioned. She takes GOOD CARE of her family. That’s doable. AND is never lazy. Oi vey. The NIV employs a supervisor connotation saying, “She watches over the affairs of her household.” She oversees and manages, she takes good care of everyone. That’s self-explanatory.
Proverbs 10:4 says, “Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.” Idleness means to not be working, to be inactive or unemployed. It’s not referring to unemployment, but to those that refuse all forms of work. Personally, I can’t think of anything worse that being idle for very long. It’s nice to have time off to rejuvenate, but I’m of a nature to always need tasks before me.
In this context, Ecclesiastes 10:18 is a pretty good picture of our context here: “If a man is lazy, the rafters sag; if his hands are idle, the house leaks.” Aka: a woman not watching over her household will have a house falling around her ears and a lazy woman will have a roof that leaks during Dr. Who episodes. A woman (or man for that matter) that is not concerned with taking good care of the family or family unit is courting trouble that will probably take awhile to undo. Building families is a whole different topic I won’t get into here, but I don’t think I’m left field to mention it being a possible inference here. Maybe, maybe not. Supervise your family and take good care of them.
More NEXT TIME in P31W Part VII!!!!
DISCLAIMER: I am not a trained biblical scholar. I am just curious, bible hungry and care for my gender and our crazy methods of learning and growing as Christian women in a world that has a pretty skewed image of what women are or should be. If at any point you see a huge flaw in my logic or addition that needs to be added to the interpretation, please contact me and help me to correct or add to my expounding on this chapter.
I do not claim to have all the answers or have the CORRECT translation and meaning of all the verses in this series. I am just digging and sharing my findings and research concerning this chapter.
5/2013
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