08.17.09
Proverbs 31: Part 2: Willing and Eager to Work
Proverbs 31:13 She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. 14 She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. 15 She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. 16 She considers a field and buys itl with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
The NIV says eager and the ESV translation of the Bible says willing. Two awesome words to say a woman that is ready to work!
When I walk in to a room that had previously been clean, organized, and presentable, instead I find couch cushions out on the floor, toy bins dumped, thrown, books pulled off shelves, and the floor is covered with various debris of a 30 minute chunk of time, I thought would be bliss? I think to myself, “YOU are kidding me!!! This will take forever to put back together.” My redeemed heart COULD say, “Looks like these kids had fun while I was upstairs making lunch, maybe we can make a fun game of cleaning this up together.” My heart would be stilled. My heart COULD be eager to clean up after my children instead of aggrevation, masked with a happy face, trying not to dishonor my kids and make them feel like a burden.
6am, the alarm goes off. I have an hour before my kids wake up and greet my husband and I for the day. Some mornings, I am eager to get to work, to work out, get some time alone in the Bible and pray that my heart would be patient and that I would be self-controlled that day. Most mornings, my heart groans, “could it possibily be 6, already?” Am I eager, willing, and ready to get up and serve my Lord?
The sluggard stays in bed long past time to rise for work. Proverbs is full of verses rebuking the lazy sluggard, who is the opposite of our eager and willing worker. Here are a few looks at how God describes this reluctant worker.
Proverbs 6:9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?
Proverbs 20: 4 A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing.
Proverbs 26:14 As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed.
Where is Jesus in the midst of the messy play room or alarm clock going off? In my flesh, I don’t see him, I don’t acknowledge the Holy Spirit tapping on my wandering heart. The truth is, those moments are precious opportunities for me to obey. To obey and worship Jesus, to be still, to know that a messy room doesn’t mean I am messy. My messes are not who I am. Even in the midst of chaos and endless task lists, my heart can be calm. My desire is that my heart would be continually Controlled by the Spirit.
Eager. Eager and Willing are the opposite of Lazy and Disobedient. Are you the Eager Servant or Reluctant Sluggard? What motivates you to do either? AGAIN, we are to see that the Fear of the Lord could be our motivation. Fear of man, can superficially motivate me sometimes to get things in order, yet my heart isn’t intrenched in the satisfaction of serving my family, which is serving the Lord.
When I am tempted to not work with eager and willing hands, is my heart sensitive to the Lord? When I say, “ugg, more work, could it really be this much, Lord?,” am I quick to rely on God for strength? Do I pray a dependent on Jesus prayer, “Lord, please make me quick to serve and eager to put others first!”
Do you ever find your self tempted by laziness, a sluggard mentality? Do you struggle to get organized? Do you change your behavior for a while and eventually find that you are right back where you started? I am praying that you, that I, can continue to gaze on Christ and that He would show us where repentance needs to happen. Perhaps, it is selfishness, love of pleasure, lack of self-control, lack of time-management, i.e., stewardship, etc.
Sluggards can repent. And the proud productive worker can repent. The willing servant can repent of feeling like you have arrived. There is no proverbs 31 woman. There is only Jesus. He is the goal, the precious treasure! He is the reason why I can get out of my bed at 6am.
Working with willing and eager hands isn’t the end, it is a means to worship. And it is worship when you surrender your desires and your desires change and become a willing heart enjoying Jesus, and EVERY part of His lavish grace on you.
So, my friend, are you worshipping? Where is your struggle? What side of the fence are you on? Or are you straddling?
susan rudolph said,
September 7, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Trisha, I came across a link to your blog via Mars Hill’s Reforming the Feminine blog. Your words are encouragement to my heart, thanks for sharing what Jesus teaches you!