Proverbs 31: Part 1: Consistent Character

This section of scripture is an acrostic poem exalting a noble wife. Each of the 22 verses begins with a consecutive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  Such a woman is almost a personification of wisdom.

 ”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. ” Proverbs 31:11-12

The first attitude of her heart I see is- consistency. This woman has consistent character. Her heart is consistent, let’s explore that more deeply!

Capable Trustworthy Heart “Noble, Translated Capable. He trusts her. Her careful household management enhances their family’s wealth. This kind of woman is an asset, not a liability, to her husband. Good comes to him that can be directed attributed to her. She supports and encourages him.  And she is faithful in helping him all ….her life..” - The Bible Knowledge Commentary

Consistent Stewarding Heart. Faithful. Her husband doesn’t doubt her delivery of her duties and it comes from a consistent and faithful character. Behind her character is the theme of this section, the fear of the Lord. She fears the Lord which is her motivation for her behaviors. Her diligence comes from fear of God.

Serving Generously Heart. If she is always doing him good, she is generous servant. She anticipates her husband’s needs and meets them, so much so, that he always trusts her. Her love for her husband thinks about him and acts with ways to show him.

Abundantly Fore-bearing Heart. He doesn’t doubt her work or her heart. She is consistent and ready to love, serve, work, and enjoy him. She is a crown, a Godly helpmate to her husband, if he can always trust her. She is thinking of ways to love not ways that she could be loved.

Her work is consistent because her character is. Her fear of God is in place and from that flows fruit of righteousness, capable work, abundant trust from her husband. God loves this woman and she is responding to God’s love by faithfully pouring out love to her family. It isn’t hit and miss, it is consistent, because her relationship with God is consistent.

So, the Holy Spirit prompts me to ask myself, “When am I not doing producing these attributes, God?” And, the LORD reminds me that if my heart is first motivated to love and serve Jesus, the rest will follow. There is no formula for being a productive woman. For the woman who fears God is to be praised. That is what I want to desire more. To fear God is beautiful. Not the perfect body, not the perfect house, family, effective household management, etc, etc. To fear God is it.

Jesus, I pray that I would first fear you and trust you to iron out my weaknesses. I thank you for your grace that you give me daily when I don’t worship through my work. I know that you want my realigned worship, that my heart would seek your face only and out of that by your grace, fruit would follow for your own glory! to your Glory and in your name, amen.

Proverbs 31 working woman

Have you ever wondered what the Proverbs 31 woman was really like? I would love to follow her around and learn from her. Yet, God wants more than my productivity. He wants my worship. Join me in exploring the work of the Proverbs 31 woman and the quest for a heart that worships thru work.

I am going to post a 5 part series on this woman.  My aim is not to set up a perfect ideal of a worshiping woman of God. She isn’t the Goal. Christ is. He knows our hearts and I believe he wants our realigned worship.  My prayer is for myself and for you, to read with an open heart, be watchful of condemnation (the hints of the enemy that you will never measure up) and search your heart for where you are needing to confess sin and ask the Lord to show you how to worship Him.

Being like Christ is our motive for change- not to be a good and productive woman. I am excited about this journey through understanding this working woman and her motives, looking at my motives, and exploring lies we believe, and truth.

First in ESV then in the Message for our mediatation.. More exposition to follow:

Proverbs 31 *ESV10^[d](P) An excellent wife who can find?
   She is far more precious than^(Q) jewels.
11The heart of her husband trusts in her,
   and he will have no lack of gain.
12She does him good, and not harm,
   all the days of her life.
13She^(R) seeks wool and flax,
   and works with willing hands.
14She is like the ships of the merchant;
   she brings her food from afar.
15She^(S) rises while it is yet night
   and^(T) provides food for her household
   and portions for her maidens.
16She considers a field and buys it;
   with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
17She^(U) dresses herself^[e] with strength
   and makes her arms strong.
18She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
   Her lamp does not go out at night.
19She puts her hands to the distaff,
   and her hands hold the spindle.
20She^(V) opens her hand to^(W) the poor
   and reaches out her hands to the needy.
21She is not afraid of snow for her household,
   for all her household are clothed in^(X) scarlet.^[f]
22She makes^(Y) bed coverings for herself;
   her clothing is^(Z) fine linen and^(AA) purple.
23Her husband is known in^(AB) the gates
   when he sits among the elders of the land.
24She makes^(AC) linen garments and sells them;
   she delivers sashes to the merchant.
25^(AD) Strength and dignity are her clothing,
   and she laughs at the time to come.
26She opens her mouth with wisdom,
   and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
27She looks well to the ways of her household
   and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28Her children rise up and call her blessed;
   her husband also, and he praises her:
29“Many^(AE) women have done^(AF) excellently,
   but you surpass them all.”
30^(AG) Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
   but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
31Give her of the fruit of her hands,
   and let her works praise her in the gates. Proverbs 31 *The Message10-31 A good woman is hard to find,
   and worth far more than diamonds.
Her husband trusts her without reserve,
   and never has reason to regret it.
Never spiteful, she treats him generously
   all her life long.
She shops around for the best yarns and cottons,
   and enjoys knitting and sewing.
She’s like a trading ship that sails to faraway places
   and brings back exotic surprises.
She’s up before dawn, preparing breakfast
   for her family and organizing her day.
She looks over a field and buys it,
   then, with money she’s put aside, plants a garden.
First thing in the morning, she dresses for work,
   rolls up her sleeves, eager to get started.
She senses the worth of her work,
   is in no hurry to call it quits for the day.
She’s skilled in the crafts of home and hearth,
   diligent in homemaking.
She’s quick to assist anyone in need,
   reaches out to help the poor.
She doesn’t worry about her family when it snows;
   their winter clothes are all mended and ready to wear.
She makes her own clothing,
   and dresses in colorful linens and silks.
Her husband is greatly respected
   when he deliberates with the city fathers.
She designs gowns and sells them,
   brings the sweaters she knits to the dress shops.
Her clothes are well-made and elegant,
   and she always faces tomorrow with a smile.
When she speaks she has something worthwhile to say,
   and she always says it kindly.
She keeps an eye on everyone in her household,
   and keeps them all busy and productive.
Her children respect and bless her;
   her husband joins in with words of praise:
“Many women have done wonderful things,
   but you’ve outclassed them all!”
Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades.
   The woman to be admired and praised
   is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-God.
Give her everything she deserves!
   Festoon her life with praises!

Idol Management

Everywhere I turn, I see my desires for things other than Christ. Sometimes, I see those desires are gifts from him and I hold them carefully and losely. Other times, I see those desires turn to idols. Some to mention: desire for affection, attention, purpose, love, and yes even a desire to control, suprised?

God does want me to see my idols and how I have specifically replaced the worship of God to the worship of things, desires, relationships, etc. He wants me to repent and TRULY TURN from those things and see them as gifts and enjoy them as such. God wants me to enjoy HIM and delight in HIS presence.

YET- it is so tempting to get caught up in seeing idols and smashing them. I would never be done, if this is what I set my heart out to do. Digging for idols isn’t worship. It is self-worship, a form of self-atonement. I think that digging for sin is a way of explaining and understanding myself so that I don’t have to ultimately rest in Christ’s provision on the Cross and the rich grace lavished on me. If I am a proficient idol hunter, then I can make myself into an award winning idol smasher?

As I wrestle and repent, the goal in it is not to navel gaze, hunt for idols, despair over depravity. The “end” or the goal of my walk is Christ and worshipping him, to marvel at His goodness.  So, I press on for the upward call in Christ Jesus.

Philipians 3:12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

I recently heard an amazing sermon on the “Passover”. I sat in my seat, stunned and have continued to ponder this amazing truth. In the Exodus story- when the hebrews placed the blood of the lamb on the doorpost, the spirit would pass over the doorways with blood and not take the life of the first born son. Here it is: God did not look in the home and see if there were idols on the table, before His spirit passed over. He saw the blood (that is it) and passed over. Jesus Christ’s blood on the cross was the atonement for my sins. God passes over me, because of Jesus. Oh, how tempting it is for me to busy myself with idol management. I am a woman under the blood of Christ, I am covered. No amount of idol repenting gets me more.  I will continue to work out my salvation with fear and trembling, but the working out part does not get me more of the blood. I am already in Christ. I am already covered with grace. God sees Jesus over me. My father God knows every hair on my head and holds the universe together, I am in awe at his majesty and delight that grace flows freely to me constantly.

David Powlison had a great talk on this (analysing and introspecting) that I listened to last week, perfect timing (God is getting thru to me!) Here is the free download of the teaching:

http://www.sovereigngracestore.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=A2250-03-51

What I have learned this last couple months is to celebrate more. To repent is worshipful, but to not go looking for sin, idols, to not process life and heart to the extent that it is a self-introspective-self-atonement. My heart is softened before God and I am ready to dance more.

Are you stuck in idol management? I would love to hear…

all of me

William Temple’s (1881-1944) Readings in St. John’s Gospel.

“Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His Beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose – and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin”.

Amen.

Instructing a Child’s Heart, by Tedd and Margy Tripp

This book is helping me shape my own biblical worldview. I have realized how many layers of worldly instruction has formed in my heart. Of the many lessons this book has taught me, the most helpful is to see my children’s need for Christ and a biblical worldview in which all of life, behavior, sin, truth, can be interpreted. It is my calling as a mother to shepherd this view.

“Formative instruction provides children with biblical ways of thinking. It is the process of instruction that enables our children to root all of life in God’s revelation in the Bible. Formative instruction is not focused on correcting something that has gone wrong; it focus is providing ways of interpreting and responding to life that are biblical. ”

Thank you, Mr. Tedd Tripp and Mrs. Margy Tripp for your wisdom and giving God glory through your experiences and biblical teaching.

The Tripps are coming September 19th and 20th to Mars Hill Church, for the Shepherding a Child’s Heart Conference. Can’t wait to attend!

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worship as Contentment

 Am I a content woman of God? Do I trust God to order my steps, my day, my plan?

God has really convicted me lately of so many idols in my heart. Specifically, I desire too much to know the “plan” for the season, for the day, for the hour… Hence, my difficulty to roll with the flow or my lacking flexibility. Deeper than that, it is discontentment, not trusting God, anxiety, and me trying to control. ugg.. My discontentment is masked very well (not in a sneaky way)by joy. My passion covers up my unmet desires at times.

Philipians 4:11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

My heart as John Calvin once said is an “idol factory” and in the midst of the the gratitude and worship unto Christ is my idolatrous heart. My heart wanders around looking for more. The “more” always serves me, not my family, friends, or my God. The more, is discontentment.

Paul Tripp says it this way: “You see, you and I are worshippers. This is one of the things the separates us from the rest of creation. As worshippers we’re always living for something. Something is always laying claim to the affection and rulership of our hearts. There’s always something that commands our dreams. There’s something that we look to to give us identity, meaning and purpose, and that inner sense of well-being that everyone seeks. Now, Scripture says that there are only two choices (Romans 1:25). You’re living in pursuit of the creation or the Creator. You’re looking for your satisfaction and meaning in the physical created world, or you’re finding it in the Lord.

What this means is that there’s a war of dreams that rages in our hearts, and in the middle of the fog of this war it’s so easy to get it wrong. It’s so easy to think that because I have my theology in the right place, because I am biblically literate, and a functioning member of a good church, that my life is shaped by worship of the Lord. But, that may not be the case at all. On closer inspection, it may actually be the case that underneath all of those things is a life that’s driven by personal success, or material things, or the respect of others, or power and control, etc. I am deeply persuaded that there’s a whole lot of idolatrous Christianity out there. The most dangerous idols of all are those that fit well within the culture of external Christianity.

Am I living in pursuit of God’s glory and do my choices reflect that? As God crushes idols in my heart, I am starting to understand more of the Gospel. My idols have clogged the pipes and crowded my heart. As the war in my heart continues, I am fighting with clearer vision!

Worship is contentment, but I have to fight for it, and reflect and acknowledge in prayer and praise to God for how GOOD He is and how Victorious Christ is! Repentence of discontentment will be more rest, trusting, in the midst of not knowing answers. I will stand in Philippians 4!

vacation from work ?

Vacation: (definition) leisure time away from work; devoted to rest or pleasure

For the last few weeks, my computer was down and we took a 2 week “staycation” where we enjoyed vacation time at home in our city with our visiting family members…

Staycation was awesome! Less expense, kids get their own beds, we could get out of the house for a whole day for fun activities, then stay home the next day to recoup, quality conversations, normal routines, but with less stress, no airports, or roadmaps.

God helped me not to obsess over laundry and floors and picking up toys. My family helped a lot and at the end of the two weeks, I had at least 8 loads of folded, yes clean laundry in my bedroom, ready to be put up. There were many times I could have put up laundry or mopped my floors, or windexed the fingerprints on mirrors and doors that seemed to yell at me when I would walk by, I could have swept everyday, but didn’t. The house was fine. The kids were fine. It was great. God helped me repent, rest and relax. I enjoyed my family, my home more, and feel refreshed!

As most mothers know, you really don’t get vacation, even if you are away from home. Vacation to me is someone else makes the meal and cleans it up, someone else cleans the house, someone else does the laundry, etc. And even if all of that is done, my sweet children still need bathed, wiped, dressed, combed, brushed, sanitized, held, loved, talked with, played with, kissed, hugged, and all of that from 7am until 8pm. A mother’s job is constant and it is never vacation.

I wouldn’t want that kind of vacation. So, what I am blessed with are small moments of vacation and alone time. 1 hour of reading outside. 20 minutes in the shower. Errands without the kids. Dinner out. Date night with Mike always feels like vacation!

Our staycation did include much work. Yet, my heart is refreshed. Mike was home, comforting me with his presence. Our parents were here and we enjoyed them and made a lot of memories. Vacation for me is becoming an annual time in July where we break from normalcy, still doing work, but with a different approach, to have fun, to engage our kids more, to take a ton of pictures, to plan summer outings, to take family naps, try out new recipes, play in the yard, no make-up, and no email… My heart is refreshed!

Why do people crave vacation? I struggle to not feel entitled to have a break or a vacation. If I am exhausted, the last person I tend to tell is God..

Do I view breaks or vacations or those small moments to refresh myself as gifts? Often, I think I am owed the time.

Why do I need an occasional break from my house, my kids, my husband? For me, it is an opportunity for my heart to be refreshed. I feel this way after church and listening to a sermon, a good chunk of time in the Bible, a date night with Mike, or family reading time. I feel the vacation feeling when I have talked with a friend or sipped coffee looking at the lake. The moments are there, I don’t have ride an airplane to be energized. The destination for vacation is Jesus Christ in my heart, I can go there and worship him and enjoy the pleasures of Christ anytime!

Thankfully, God faithfully refuels my heart when I go to him with an empty tank!

holistic Worship

I had a burst of excitement this morning, one of those moments where many truths hit you in to one momentous jolt of heart! As Mike talks with me about Worship and Change, and reading his latest paper on counseling that confronts religious dualism, I am jumping with joy that I get more of the gospel! 

Change happens in some ways layers at a time over time. In our community, there is a lot of teaching and biblical plea to address heart and not just behavior. But, they are connected not separated parts of who we are.

For me to see what I worship- my idols, my straying heart, is to address the spiritual part of who I am. As I repent of sin, acknowledge who I am in Christ, I can rejoice of his grace! Out of that joy of right worship, my heart is shaped, and the other parts may be affected. The heart is connected to the body.

Proverbs 14: 30 A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

The heart is connected to the mind and strength.

Mark 12: 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

To worship Christ, I don’t just worship with my spirit, but as my heart is joined with Christ, through progressive sanctification, my whole self is made holy!

Holistic:(from ὅλοςholos, a Greek word meaning all, entire, total) is the idea that all the properties of a given system (biological, chemical, social, economic, mental, linguistic, etc.) cannot be determined or explained by its component parts alone. Instead, the system as a whole determines in an important way how the parts behave.

My whole self, holistically worships, thru repentance and progressive change.. I am already holy in Christ, free, forgiven, His blood covers every part of my pain and sin. Yet, I still work out my salvation with fear and trembling, not because I am unsure of His grace, but because I know Christ’s grace covers me. I am humbled by the battle over my flesh so that I never take his grace for granted. My wretchedness shows me what to rejoice over. I rejoice in Christ and the grace and love he offers.

“There are other parts to being human. In Eric Johnson’s book, “Foundations for Soul Care”, he proposes four “orders of meaning” They are all interrelated and touch on one another, but they are hierarchically ordered. That means that some of them are more significant than others. His orders of meaning in order of the greatest to least significance: spiritual, ethical, psychosocial, and biological. Just because, these are distinct orders doesn’t mean they are disconnected from each other. For example, if I repent of sin at the spiritual order, that will have cascading changes throughout the lower orders, possibly even to the point of rewiring neural networks in the brain at the biological level. Going the other way, if my brain suffers injury, that would undoubtedly impact the higher orders that are built upon it; I may become more emotionally volatile which becomes a temptation to sin in my anger.” -Mike Wilkerson

Holistic Worship is the seeing myself in Christ, whole and new. Until we are glorified with Christ, we have to contend with our fallen bodies, depraved hearts, and minds affected by sin. In Christ, we have freedom, joy, calling, adoption, and GRACE in the midst of suffering. Jesus Christ took the punishment for our sin and only by grace did he do this!  And I am in awe and fully boast in Christ!

Galations 6:14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Restoring Worship

What is worship? For the last 6 months, I have been sharing my heart regarding my struggle to worship God in and thru my work. Hence the name of this blog. Understanding how to steward God’s gifts and worship Him with my work is my journey.

What are your associations with the word- worship? Do you think (music)? Or all things spiritual? Well, we are all worshippers. Worshippers of Creator or Creation. Do we worship God or the things he made? He is a loving and jealous God who wants me to continue to see my stream of idols that replace him. But, repentance is NOT just seeing idol and throwing it away. God wants me to see it, confess it, worship him instead, then see that thing redeemed. So, the glutton learns how to eat again without sin- but as an act of worship, of freedom. For me, I don’t just confess my independent streak in my heart and despise my competence and strength. Repentance is still being strong and competent but as a dependent on God worshipper.

Worship isn’t just getting rid of idols. It is rightly restoring the created thing in its place.  So, that my heart worships God. He alone is to be worshipped.

Pastor Mark preached about worship this past Sunday. As I sat next to my husband for the sermon and singing for the whole service (baby Lydia made it in the nursery the whole time for the first time!), I was so grateful for good biblical insight about worship. Grateful to God for scripture to speak to me. For the Lord to show me how my heart turns so quickly to idols instead of Him in worship.

And it is so worth watching and having a soft heart before the Lord to reveal idols and help you explore what worship is to you. Enjoy!

At the end of the sermon, take special note of the questions that dig at your heart. He asks some great probing questions for seeing your idols.

My Journey to 30.

I am 30 years old today. I feel tearful today, reflective, as I ponder the work of Jesus in my heart. I celebrate his redemption. Thank you for celebrating with me as I tell a story.

My Journey…

Looking back to a distant story, I see sadness and grief -for a little girl who was left alone to grow. She was lied to, spit upon as though a fool, and handed over to enemies. She is but a fuzzy memory. I cry for her confusion, for her innocence, her betrayal.

I see a glorious Redeemer snatching this girl up, hiding her under His wing, wiping tears from her gentle cheek and securing her in his love. I see her take a breath for the first time. She is safe. He is her new Father, who will never leave, and a parent who always tells her the truth.

She endures the lie for a life- with her redeemer comforting, protecting her heart, giving her what she needed to survive.

Then, I see this growing up girl shaking that Redeemer’s hand off of her hand, as he tries to walk with her as she grows, she knows he loves her, yet she has a better way to deal with her pain. She denies his presence, and in His face she mocks him with her independent and arrogant passion to be “somebody.” A proud vow to be a good person.

Faithful as the Redeemer always is, he hangs back and lets her discover that she is in desperate need of Him. She turns and sees him standing there, arm’s open. She runs into his arms, repenting of her foolish pride.

I see this girl, now grown up, straining forward not looking back, pretending that she wasn’t that little abandoned girl, she pretends and continues to strive for peace, yet it is half hearted. Her Redeemer again faithfully holds her hand and shows her her heart and to walk in both the knowledge of her pain and suffering and her repentance of sin, that she is a whole woman, and her pain is not ignored. She grieves for the first time, thru her weakness, her desperate need.

She is running, she has a group of people with her. A fiercely faithful Godly man with his hand in hers, women running behind her, and four little children, running on the sidelines. She isn’t alone. She realizes that she needs them. She is weak with delight and her heart is softened. Her Redeemer is always there, always giving her direction on where the journey is going. She doesn’t doubt him or shake his hand off anymore. She can breathe deep breaths of relief that though she tried, he hasn’t let her make him leave her.

The miracle of her heart and her healing is only her redeemer’s work, she calls his name as much as she can! She runs, she journeys, she sometimes doesn’t even see the road, yet he guides her.

She trips over rocks and falls down as the journey has unexpected twists and hurdles. The Redeemer has taught her to look up first before she picks herself up and look for his hand to help her. She cries that He never leaves, no matter how many times, she forgets to look for his hand.

Her sin, her heart, are constantly being forgiven, and loved as she journeys. She runs, trying not to stop. She isn’t alone and will never be. She can always trust her Redeemer. His love is steadfast and pure.

Thank you, Jesus for Redeeming ME. I can breathe now. My heart is overwhelmed at your gift to me.

I praise you, my redeemer, for saving me from myself. and blessing me beyond what I could ever dream.  30 years down, many more to go, for you Lord Jesus to get your glory.