Ooops!

Well last week when we were working on memorizing Proverbs 31:10-12, I missed something, a couple words at the end of verse ll,  In the Living Bible the verses read like this: Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. In the King James it says . . . so that he shall have no need of spoil. Sometimes when you read the two translations they sound similar, but on this verse that is not the case. I was curious about the word "spoil" what did the writer mean here. It is a word we don't use much, so its meaning does not come to mind right away. The word in Hebrew means plunder, our dictionary def of plunder says it means to rob - loot - pillage - sack - despoil - maraud - ransack. Sounds a bit violent!

Let's remember who is speaking here, it is the wife of a King (David) to her young son. She is saying "honey if you find a virtuous girl for your wife you will not have need of plunder, you will not have to conquer the world for her. Her love will be your true north, your contentment in life will be with her at your side.

Remember the words help meet? The intention God had for us girls with our men. I want to journey back to Genesis, in the garden again with Adam and Eve. It is a nice afternoon and Eve gets the hankering to go out for a walk ALONE, away from her Adam. She 's out exploring her garden and runs across a talking snake! (On a side note here, had Eve been with Adam, he could have warned her about this creature, his first job in the garden was to study and name the animals, he would have recognized this snake and known snakes were not talkers!) So we see Eve getting into a discussion with the "devil in snakes clothing". He plants the seed of doubt in Eve's mind about God, the snake tells her "there is more", God has been holding out on them. "Eat the apple and you will see it" he says. The apple tree in the garden was the lottery ticket to MORE! She hikes back to Adam, she says to Him, "Hey, big guy, I need MORE than this garden, you need to eat apple this with me and we'll have MORE" (in essence - you and this garden are not enough for me) He too doubts God and believes THEY do need MORE and eats the apple with her.  He trusted her heart for him, she would not have steered him in the wrong direction, he wanted to be enough for her, if it meant stealing that one apple, so be it! Plunder and Spoil.

As God's virtuous woman it is our primary job to develop our relationship with God. We should be the truth bearers to our husbands about God and His love for us. If we are off course it is so easy to steer our man in the wrong direction too. We are the "true north" in the home. When we trust God to be enough for us we find our contentment in Him.We won't be the one who "pushes" the one we love to move from the position of faith in God either. This whole thought makes me want to weep for the times I have stepped off course looking for MORE.

Now, when you put the next verse with this one, see how it looks!

Today's charm is an apple

Recite the verse:

Proverbs31:
¹¹The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.  ¹²She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.

Project for today: Seek God about the Garden you are living in today and make sure you have placed your faith in God's provision for you and your husband. Thank your husband for bringing home the bacon and let him know he's doing a great job of it too.  Pray the words of the verse and seek more insights from your heavenly Father on it.

Blessings!

A Mighty Fortress

Proverbs 31:11(a) The heart of her husband safely trusts her . . .
I have a big old Strongs Concordance and I love to look up the Hebrew words that are used in the scripture verses I am committing to memory. It is like a treasure hunt to see what the original writer intended to say with the particular word that is used in the passage. I want to know the intent of what was written by the scribe at that time in history. So many times the word used takes on a richer meaning than the common English that I ascribe to it.

Take the word used in today's passage, the word "trust". Our dictionary definition says it is the trait of believing in the honesty and reliability of others, to have confidence or faith in, extend credit to. In this passage the root Hebrew meaning of the word "trust" is refuge, place of safety or protection. We could read the verse to say "the heart of the husband can find in his wife a place of safety or protection".

We typically think of our mate as the "protector" but in this passage we find ourselves as the protector of our mate's heart, the lifegiving force within him should be able to find a place of refuge with us. This concept is more about being rather than doing. Who I am for him is his safe place.

A warrior in biblical times would typically find a cave or a walled city to hide in when he was resting up after a battle. In today's crazy times where does a man go after battle at the office or job? Home, sweet Home, that is where he can find a place of peace and shelter for the next day's battle.  So when he arrives, what kind of place does he find? Is it a place where his heart is held safe? Or is there another type of battle awaiting him there as well?

Remember, the writer's mom gave him the words written in this psalm, her husband more than likely was none other than the warrior King David, Solomon's father. She surely knew of the need to become a safe place for David to turn to after battle.

Lots of things to ponder today. No answers from me, I still learning on this verse myself!

The charm for today is a "Home"

Ask God to awaken you to ways to be that safe place of trust for your mate. Pray about your own need for shelter and run to the Father to find the true place of safety and protection.

Proverbs 31:10 -11(a)
Who can find a virtuous woman? She is worth more than rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her . . .