I was unable to attend church yesterday due to a horrendous headache, mainly caused by allergies, so after Tylenol made the headache subside, I did a Bible study on my own. My Bible study was titled “To Pray is to Work, To Work is to Pray.” The Scripture Reading was Proverbs 31:10-31 (one of my favorite sections in Proverbs) which is talking about the wife of noble character. Here is the Scripture:
“A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls. She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night. In her hands she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers. She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy. When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet. She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple. Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes. She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: ‘Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.’ Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.” Proverbs 31:10-31
Back when this was written, this woman knew all about work even though she didn’t have a degree from Yale. She was a woman who feared and respected God and because of her noble efforts she was praised. In today’s world of work, we find that Monday is basically the most difficult day right?!?! We then focus on Fridays….the party days! YEA THE WEEKEND!!!! Well, with this attitude, it has a lot to say about our approaches to work. It is a far cry from “To pray is to work, to work is to pray.” Back in those early days, work was a reflection of worship to God. When people worked, they worked to the Lord and not to the pleasing of man (a boss, a friend, a spouse, etc). “A man can milk cows to the glory of God. It is our own attitude toward work that reflects the joy of the Lord”—Martin Luther. I sure wish everyone could recapture this concept of work. We would take the hardness and stresses of everyday life and give them to God. If we took the normal routines surrounding our work and begin to pray about them, our whole attitude would change for ourselves and others (I think so anyway ). We would no longer yearn for Friday every moment of the week to finally get here. We would see ever day as a Friday.
In my study, Emilie Barnes answers the main question: How do we learn that to pray is to work, and to work is to pray? I am going to quote her answers below:
1. “Each morning when we wake up we thank God for a new day and all that is in it.”
2. “We offer to God in worship all of our energies, creativity, time, and skills.”
3. “We recognize that work done in an attitude of prayer brings excellence, which in turn bears testimony to God.”
4. “We realize that we are obedient to God when we provide for our family and their needs.”
5. “We model to our children that work is good, so that they see us give worship to God for the work he has given us.”
She is spot on. I know a lot of us are not involved in the “workforce”. But as a stay at home mom—I know that that is A LOT of work! We are always busy, but we have a tendency to complain about all the laundry, cleaning, dusting, etc…but aren’t we blessed to be able to stay home with our children and not miss anything!!! Also for all of the homeschooling moms, I know grading is extensive and there is so much to do with teaching our children…but HOW AWESOME IS IT! God has blessed us to teach our children at home with Him as the center of all knowledge! I know everyone has to face hard times with everything we have to do, tons of sweat, back aches; but we can’t forget that how we do our jobs is a reflection upon our worship to Christ. I know that I truly want to wake up every morning with a praise song in my heart and full of eagerness to start my new day and before I go to bed I want to praise God for giving me another day’s work. No matter what we are doing, working in a factory, working at a hospital, business office, patrolling on the streets, or even staying home as a wife and mom, we need to be in continuous prayer while we are working. What we do every minute should be pleasing to the Lord!
Also—when we read the Scripture talking about the wife of Noble Character, most of us women sigh with hopelessness when we read about this woman. She is just too perfect to try to be like. But some people suggest that instead of ONE perfect woman, this tribute to “Super Woman” actually represents the collection of several different women. With that being said, it is kind of a relief right?!?! Okay, that is only one interpretation of the passage, but considering it fills most of us women with hope. We admire this wise wife but in a way we feel more intimidated by all of her abilities. For instance, we compare ourselves to others all the time. For example, you are at a potluck dinner at a friends house. Your friend Rose and you have both made Peanut Butter Cookies. Well…while looking both batches over, you notice that Rose’s cookies are big and soft while yours are hard and flat. Hmmm…another example…There is a science fair and you are supposed to craft the solar system…okay. Well Jennie’s project that her and her mom worked on is seamless and perfect, however Johnny’s project that you and him worked on has glue-gun globs of mess all over. Okay, one more…we stick are feet in our mouth on occasion, but Sally always knows just which words to use (and not use). What I am trying to get at is that we are all far from perfect. The people who we tend to compare ourselves to, are indeed like us, not perfect. We are better at some things like they are better at others. Everyone excels in different things. So whether or not the Proverbs 31 woman is one amazing woman or a combination of several women, we can take heart from the truth that hardly any of us can ever demonstrate all of these qualities at once. But the greatest thing of all is…God doesn’t expect us to. He knows we are far from perfect. He knows we are going to stumble and fall. He knows we are tired and can grumble. But he forgives us and loves us in spite of our faults. The only thing he desires is that we do our best to follow Him and to have a relationship with Him. He loves us in spite of us. He loves us unconditionally! What an Awesome God we have!
Closing with a quote: “It is our best work that He wants, not the dregs of our exhaustion. I think He must prefer quality to quantity.” ~ George MacDonald
Til Fingers Meet Keyboard,
Lauren
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