Secret Treasures

I have a confession.  I entered marriage as a woman who had a very good educational background, graduated with flying colors, and yet, in spite of it all, I was a foolish young wife.

I laugh at the irony of the inscription inside the wedding band on my ring finger stating “Proverbs 31”.  Perhaps my dear patient husband was being prophetic.

Today, I do not claim to be the wisest wife in the world.  God knows, I am far from that.  But I too, am far from being foolish as I was seven and a half years ago when I said my I do.

My cure? Devouring the Word of God —-especially the book of Proverbs.

Hey, if I had to be a Proverbs 31 woman, I had to read the whole Proverbs.  After all, you don’t become the 31 woman if you never began with chapters 1-30. The 31st chapter, mind you, is the last one of the book.  Having said this, allow me to share with you some of the most striking, hitting, piercing passages that really changed me inside out.  I pray that as you read, you will embrace the wisdom no matter how much it hurts and allow it to break you and re-mold you into the woman God wants you to be.

“Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil.  It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.” Prov. 3:7-8

Oh how many times do conflicts with our husbands arise because we wives just deem ourselves to be wiser than our spouses?! Heed this verse and humble yourself. To fear the Lord is to acknowledge that we do not know and understand everything, but God does. When we accept this hard truth, we will be content to shut ourselves up. I am forever learning this. I have learned it to a degree, but I know I need to exercise this more.

“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” Prov. 4:23

So true. Jesus also said, “Out of the abundance of your heart, the mouth speaks.” Therefore wives, our ultimate responsibility is not to guard our mouths but our hearts first and foremost. No matter how hard you try to keep your mouth closed, if your heart is bubbling with anger and resentment, it will force your mouth open. So ladies,guard your heart with all diligence.By diligence means careful examination, constant evaluation, never getting lazy about weeding out our hearts from any form of insecurities, fears, rejection, bitterness, unforgiveness, hatred, or anger.

“An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who causes shame is like rottenness in his bones.” Prov. 12:4

This verse always leads me to examine my actions and choice of words with other people.  Do my actions or words bring shame to my husband?  Am I scandalous in the way I act or talk? There have been times, I admit, when in public places, my reserved husband would nudge me to lower down my volume because I had been talking or laughing too loudly.  Personally, I don’t find anything wrong with it because I grew up always talking and laughing loud.  But since I got married, my considerations have changed.  They have to, wives.  You cannot give the common sad excuse of “This is who I am, and you just have to accept me as I am.”

You have to admit there are certain preferences you yourself would demand that your husband be considerate of.  It is the same thing with him. Being married gives you all the opportunities to learn how to be considerate. My advice? Learn his ways and find out his tastes and then always in your mind put in consideration all these things in everything that you do.  It is nothing different from our relationship with God.

In everything we do,we ought to consider the ways of our Father and know His tastes. As the bride of Christ, we must put into consideration whether our actions or words delight Him or not.  That is why the apostle Paul tells us that marriage is an earthly expression of the mystery of our relationship with our Lord Jesus. Many times, God uses our marriage to speak to us about our relationship with Him.

I have always loved the book of Proverbs.  It was the first book of my Bible which I covered with lots of permanent markers.  I still enjoy munching on it and sometimes just devouring it straight from chapters 1 -31.

I hope you’ll do the same, and find yourself gaining much wisdom even at a young age.  After all, if truth be told, experience is not the only way to learn.