Nuggets from Proverbs

Day 11 – How Are You Building Your Home?

How I love Noah Webster’s definition of the word build:

1. To construct, rest or depend on as a foundation;

The wise woman of Proverb 14:1 constructed her home which rested and depended upon the Foundation. This verse was not speaking of us actually constructing and building our own houses in the physical sense. This verse says that the wise woman here was constructing her house on the foundation of the Lord. This woman knew full well that this foundation would never move. How she ran her household was base on the very foundation of Christ.

Ah, God’s foundation stands sure, ladies. His foundation does not move. His foundation does not crumble under the pressures of the world. His foundation won’t even form a slight crack – it is Perfect! What comfort for the wise woman, amen?

2 Tim. 2:19 goes on to say that the Lord knows those that are His!! I don’t know about you, but I’m doing a halleluiah dance here! God knows me! If I am building my house on His foundation, I will be leading my household to Him and He will know them as well.

2 Tim. 2:19 does not stop there either. The Lord tells us that we must depart from sin since the Father knows us. We must be sinning less and less in our spiritual walks – not staying the same – not going backward – not continuing in sin – but walking forward and sinning less. Yes, we’re going to stumble – yes we’re going to sin, but the key is not to remain in that condition. Did David remain in his sinful condition? Did Peter? God gave us examples in His Word so that we could learn and grow from their experiences. Both these men repented of their sin and moved forward doing great things for God. Are you sinning just as much today as your yesterdays? If so, why? You should be examining yourselves, ladies. We ought not to be this way.

Notice the last half of Prov. 14:1,

Have you ever watched someone pluck a chicken? It’s not done all at once. It’s an arduous process at best, feather by feather. The chicken’s skin doesn’t appear all at once – but bit by bit, the skin is exposed. I also thought of the blood that comes out of the pore that bore the feather. The process of plucking does not go without causing pain or shedding blood. God is so awesome, ladies. He puts a word like plucketh into a verse so that we can glean from the visual picture it portrays! Each time the foolish woman tears down her home bit by bit, she is causing pain and shedding blood – maybe not in the physical sense, but in the spiritual sense.

What do you suppose the foolish woman is doing to pluck her home down with her own hands? Noah Webster defines the foolish as:

5. In scripture, wicked; sinful; acting without regard to the divine law and glory, or to one’s own eternal happiness.

Soooo, this foolish woman does not care for the spiritual matters of her household. I was thinking of only an unsaved woman before I meditated on this a bit more. I believe this could also be referring to a woman who is saved but not looking well to the spiritual and physical needs of her family. Her actions and testimony tear down this house.

Wives and mothers are responsible for setting the “tone” in our homes. What kind of tone are you setting in your home? Does your family know you love the Lord? Is it evident in your walk with Him? Do they see you in the Word? Do your actions show that you are in the Word? If not, you’re quenching the Holy Spirit and not bearing His fruit. Don’t be like the foolish woman. Take heed from this warning in Proverbs. Don’t pluck your home down with your own hands! Instead, be like the wise woman whose home is built on the Foundation of Christ and her goal is to keep adding to that foundation with her words, her testimony and her love!!

Dear God…
Let my actions build my home
Let them not be foolish but wise
May I glorify You in all my ways
So your Name will be lifted high!