by tascha
Last Friday I was struck by the thought that words can be violent. I mean, I know it… I’ve heard it, experienced it even [on both sides].
But still, often, people [myself included] do not really think through what is getting ready to come out of their mouth.
When I am allowing my Lord to speak through my mouth, my words will bring life… a LOT of life [as in, a WELL] to those to whom I am conversing.
Proverbs 10:11
I pray the Lord pours forth LIFE from my mouth today!
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by tascha
This verse from yesterday speaks a couple of different thoughts to my heart.
One is that righteousness and mercy co-exist.
Ok-that one is still on soak.
Proverbs 21:21
Another is that FOLLOWING righteousness leads us to FINDING righteousness. I think this lends to the idea that we will never attain “being righteous” -which reminds me of this passage:
10~As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11~There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12~They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Romans 3:10-12
And then… mercy, coupled with righteousness {which is still on soak} also leads to LIFE & HONOR. Who doesn’t want life? or to be honored?
And that leads me to some other passages:
4~But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 5~Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6~Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7~That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according according to the hope of eternal life. 8~This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. Titus 3:4-8
Our works will never save us. God is the perfect example of this righteousness and mercy existing together, in harmony. His mercy is new each day… but He is also eternally righteous.
It is because of Jesus’ perfect righteousness & mercy
that I can even have a hope of entering heaven.
But, while our works will not get us to heaven, they WILL glorify God and be profitable.
I don’t know about you… but I want:
~to find more righteousness than I currently have
~to gain eternal life and have treasure [honor] to lay at Jesus’ feet {another thought I didn’t really explore here}
and ~I want my life to be profitable!
So I will continue to soak on “follow after righteousness and mercy”…
….what does this verse speak to you?
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by tascha
She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.
Proverbs 31:24
She understands a trade. She knows an area of business and takes advantage of the market, thus earning some income. This has been talked about earlier in the chapter also.
She knows that her merchandise is good. This woman has worked in the night hours to furnish product to the merchants. She has remained a light to her family during the dark times [possibly of financial struggle].
She is not afraid to lay hold on work. She has learned to give to the needy. She has proven to have a mind to reason out business.
While she could have {and so can we} become involved in a myriad of business opportunities: soap-making, farming, animals, child-care, artist, etc… she did become involved in clothing and material construction {as well as a little farming}. We see here that she made fine linen. She constructed girdles to sell.
I find it encouraging to notice that, while it does say she was not idle and looked well to the ways of her household [further on], it does not say that there were never days of disorder or frustration.
I am positive she had days of being tired. She WAS human. But she also relied on God for strength {she feared the Lord in verse 30}.
[I do understand that this woman is simply the advice of a mother to her son on looking for a wife, but I think the fact this type of lady’s description made it into Scripture means this type of life is more than just a lofty aspiration.]
Life is messy. Husbands are not always agreeable {and neither are we!}. Children are often chaos waiting to explode. She took care of her family and home to the best of her ability. And she learned a trade. Incidentally, she learned a trade that benefited her family [growing fruit and constructing clothing]!
These things did not happen in a day. Neither did they happen in one year. This chapter is the culmination of her life. It does not say she bought land every year or even planted vineyards every year. It does not say she made linen every season her whole life. These are simply things she did-at some point in her life.
And while I am busy these precious, few, fleeting years training my children to be good and how to do household chores with me, I can be learning and preparing for a time when they will not require my full-undivided-attention-every-waking-moment. It will come. I think the fact that the only time this lady’s children are mentioned is when they rise up to call her blessed attests to that.
