Month: April 2014

Clothing Herself in Strength and Dignity

On By Tamarah RockwoodIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Clothes

Anyone who says clothes aren’t important to women has, 1) never listened to a woman, and 2) never read the Bible.
Case in point: 
Song of Solomon:
1:10 “Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels.”
1:14 “My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of Engedi.”
7:1 “How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O noble daughter!”
Shoes are important to us, jewelry is important to us.  They are beautiful and they are fun, and it is okay to enjoy them.  I am just pointing these out to show that God has placed these things in our hearts.
verse 13 “She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands.”  So she makes her fabric and material.
17 “She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong.” 
24 “She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant.” 
25 “Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.”
Clothes are important to her, but what I want to point out is that God is describing her clothes.  Not her armor.  In Ephesians 6 Paul describes the armor of God.  The way God is describing the woman here is not as a warrior, but as a force in the home.  She is not fighting battles in her home, she is lovingly providing for her family.  
The focus is very important to note.  The material she uses are linens that are dyed beautiful colors.  In God’s eyes, she clothes herself with strength and dignity.  She is not a General on the battlefield barking orders and demanding things to be done.  She is wearing soft clothes, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.  Although it is clear she is a woman who can make things happen, who is able to plan ahead and execute on plans, she is not a commanding officer in the home.  I think a lot of times women think they have to be dominant in order to be respected as an authority in the home, but that is not the right tactic.  She is not wearing armor, she is wearing clothes.  She is not in battle, she is in her home.
Which brings us to a crucial component: her husband.

Who Is Her Husband?: Strategic Leaders, Tactical Leaders

On By Tamarah RockwoodIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Who Is Her Husband

Or, more correctly, where is her husband?
v. 23“Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land.”
Her husband is a respected man who stands with the men at the gates of the city.  He is fulfilling the curse in Genesis, declaring man to work:
And to Adam he said,
Genesis 3:17-19
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
On the other hand:
16 “To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.”
The nature of woman is to take over.  We fight with our husbands over authority, or we bypass his authority all together and do things our way without consulting him.  Back in the section of 
“What Doesn’t She Do,” I said “ 2) She does not NOT manage her household, forcing her husband to take over.  He is at the gates instead of at home. “  
The husband in Proverbs 31 is at the gates of the city.  He isn’t at home.  He isn’t having to take over the duties of the home because his wife has given up.  He isn’t picking up the pieces around the home because the wife refuses to take authority in the home.  The husband is at the gates, or at work, where he was destined to be.  The wife is at home, taking care of their household with strength and dignity.
 
 
There are two ways of leading: there is the Strategic and there is the Tactical.
 
The Strategic leader is the General of the army, the Elder, the husband.  Jesus is a Strategic leader.  
According to Forbes, “strategic thinking is grounded in a strong understanding of the complex relationship between the organization and its environment. It requires taking a broad view, involving the right people, with important information and perspectives, asking probing questions and facilitating conversations. Strategic thinkers then identify connections, patterns and key issues…
Strategic leaders act in ways that manage the tension between success in daily tasks and success in the long term. “
(http://www.forbes.com/2010/10/27/three-strengths-strategy-leadership-managing-ccl.html)
The Tactical Leader is the Woman and the Holy Spirit:
Tactical leadership is concerned with the here and now, with short-term decisions and risk management for immediate gains. At the tactical level, leaders must balance the needs of team members with the needs of the mission or situation. This often involves negotiating and cajoling followers to cooperate so as to achieve the aim. It also means creating an environment where they are willing to make sacrifices or contribute to the team because of a felt loyalty to the leader and other team members.
There is always a balance in good relationships.  God, Jesus and the Spirit are the most perfectly balanced.  To God is the glory, Jesus is Strategic and the Holy Spirit is with us daily for Tactical guidance.
Likewise, to God goes the glory, the Husband is the Strategic leader and the Woman is the day to day Tactical leader of the household.
This is where the husband is: he is serving God at work, where God told him to be.
The woman is taking care of the home, the clothes, the fields, the food, the children, and…her husband. “she does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.”
And likewise, “Her husband also, and he praises her: Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.”

What Does She Do

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What Does She Do?

What Does She Do

So, what does this virtuous, excellent woman do?
12 “she does him good”
13 “she seeks wool”
14 “she brings food from afar”
15 “she rises while it is night, provides food for her house and for her maidens”
16 “she considers a field and buys it, she plants a vineyard”
17 “she dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong”
18 “She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp does not go out at night.”
19 “she puts her hands to raw material and creates useful things”
20 “she is generous”
21 “She is not afraid of snow for her household”
22 “she makes bed coverings for her home”
24 “she makes linen garments and sells them”
25 “she laughs at time to come”
26 “she opens her mouth with wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue”
27 “she is vigilant to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness”
This is a huge list!  She puts her hands to many things and provides for her household in many important areas.
She makes sure people are clothed.  She makes sure they have things they need to be comfortable, like bedsheets.  She uses her gifts to sell things in the marketplace, and she understands the value of her merchandise and does not undervalue herself.  She expects the fruits of her labor to be of a certain value, and she receives the fruit of her labor.  She is generous, she is kind, and she laughs at the time to come, and is not afraid of hard times that might happen for her household.  
According to her, they are clothed in scarlet, whose meaning is “double lined,” as scarlet garments are double dipped in the dye, and the Vulgate uses the word “ duplicibus.”  The meaning here is that her family is prepared for hard times because she has given them double the warmth to protect them from the winter snow.
This is a woman who prepares.  She has prepared her family for future winters.
This is a woman who plans and executes on her plans.  She considers a field, buys it and plants a vineyard.
This is a woman who provides.  She brings food from afar, she makes bed coverings, she makes linen garments.
In verse 19 it says, “She puts her hands to the distaff (spinning wheel) and her hands hold the spindle (yarn).”  The Hebrew translation actually comes to “she puts her hands to the spindle and her hands hold the spindle,” but the literal meaning is: she puts her hands to raw material, and is able to make something useful out of it.  She puts her hands to the wool and creates yarn.  This is a woman who is able to use raw materials and create.  She is skillful and pragmatic.
This is a woman who loves.  The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.  Her children rise up and call her blessed, and her husband also, he praises her.  You cannot have these reactions from people who you don’t love with your entire being.
This is a woman confident in her home.  She laughs at time to come, and she is not afraid of the snow.
This is a woman who is confident in the strength of herself.  She dresses herself with strength, and makes her arms strong.  Strength and dignity are her clothing.  
This is a woman who is capable of many things, who is respected by her husband, and who opens her mouth with wisdom with the teaching of kindness on her tongue.
But the most important thing about this woman is that she is a woman who fears the Lord and is to be praised.
That is a bold statement.  That is like if your husband stood on a podium and said, “this is my wife, and although she is an excellent wife in baking, in raising our children, in sewing, in providing us with healthy food…she excels in preparing for times to come and is kind and loving.  But all of this pales in comparison to the love she has for God, and for that, my friends, she is to be praised.”
So what does this virtuous woman do?  She does tons of things!  
But she loves God, and for that, alone, she is to be praised.
What Doesn’t She Do
Okay, so we have a huge list of things this woman does, which is an awesome list. 
So, what exactly doesn’t she do?  What was never mentioned in any of the verses?
1) She doesn’t clean.  It never says ONCE that she cleans.  I just want to point that out.
2) She does not NOT manage her household, forcing her husband to take over.  He is at the gates instead of at home.  Here, I am not referring to husbands who help, which is always a loving thing for wives; I’m talking about when they have to take over managing the household because of neglect.
3) She does not diet.
4) She does not gossip about people
5) She does not slander people’s reputations
6) She does not spend all her time worrying about her looks…she DOES, however, take dignified pride in her clothing and how she presents herself
7) She does not envy, and she is not covetous 
8) She is not mean or spiteful
9) She is not unforgiving
10) She does not abandon her faith

The Value of an Excellent Woman

On By Tamarah RockwoodIn Christian Reflections, Christian Women, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Value

Value is something that I believe is more important than people realize.  As a person, we are always looking to see what our value is: Is it in our waistline? Our bank account? Do we find our value in how much we get accomplished every day, or by how much we are praised by other people?  
Our societal value as a woman has definitely changed through the last century.  On one hand, women gained the right to vote in 1920, so that was a huge step for us.  On the other hand, the feminist viewpoint determined that the value of a woman was still not equal to the value of a man, and thus began the struggle for women to be “just as good as men.”
In Proverbs 31, we are going to look to see how God values women.  
“An excellent wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.“
The Hebrew word for “jewels” is “paniyn,“ which means “perhaps corals, rubies, jewels.”  
Value is something that can be found in every book in the Bible.  For example, in Leviticus we see the value of offerings in the Temple for different sins: the burnt sacrifice was offering the whole body, while the sacrifice of peace offering had only part of the offering being burnt as a gift for God, and the rest was given to both the priests and to the worshipper.  The burnt offering was symbolic of the “whole man” being offered to God, while the overall symbolism of the peace offering was more of sharing, joint participation, friendship and true worship.  
The value of the offering coincided with the intention of the worshipper.  
In the New Testament we see the element of value in the gifts that were offered to Jesus when he was born, as well as the spices that were used to cover his body after he had died.  “After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. 39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight.” (John 19:38-42)
To put the value of this into perspective:  In today’s market the 75 pounds of aloes and myrrh will sell for $150,000-$200,000.  Joseph and Nicodemus placed great value in their respect for Jesus, and paid their respects in the highest fashion.
What I want to do here is to explore what else God finds so valuable that He describes them as “more precious than jewels.”
Job 28:18 “No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal; the price ofwisdom is above pearls.”
Proverbs 3:15 “She (wisdom) is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her.”
Proverbs 20:15 “There is gold and abundance of costly stones, but the lips ofknowledge are a precious jewel.”
Proverbs 31:10 “An excellent wife, who can find?  She is far more precious than jewels.”
From wikipedia: “Wisdom has, in the Western tradition, been listed as one of four cardinal virtues. As a virtue it is a habit or disposition to perform the action with the highest degree of adequacy under any given circumstance. This implies a possession of knowledge or the seeking thereof in order to apply it to the given circumstance. This involves an understanding of people, things, events, situations, and the willingness as well as the ability to apply perception, judgement, and action in keeping with the under standing of what is the optimal course of action. It often requires control of one’s emo tional reactions (the “passions“) so that the universal principle of reason prevails to de termine one’s action. In short, wisdom is a disposition to find the truth coupled with an optimum judgement as to what actions should be taken in order to deliver the correct out come.”
The reason why wisdom is so important to God is because “ wisdom is a disposition to find the truth coupled with an optimum judgement as to what actions should be taken in order to deliver the correct outcome.” 
It is our pursuit to have wise disposition to first find the truth of God, and then attach that Godly wisdom to a judgement in order to have virtuous behavior, actions and reactions in order to deliver an outcome which will glorify God.  This is why wisdom is important to God.  Solomon was considered the wisest man because he sought wisdom from God first.  John the Baptist was considered wise because he always preached in order to give God the glory.  Ruth was wise because she sought Godly wisdom and counsel before she made any decision.  Sarah was a wise woman because she obeyed God and followed her husband.
Just think about this: The value of an excellent woman is far more precious to God than jewels.  He sees an excellent woman as a virtuous force who is able to accomplish many things, and her children and husband praise her.  
This is not a perfect woman.  God does not praise the perfect woman. There is no value in a perfect woman.  There is no perfect woman listed here.  God finds value in a Godly woman.  She is equally as important to Him as all of the wisdom he spends the entire book of Proverbs defining.  
The value of a virtuous woman is beyond compare in God’s eyes.