Proverbs 31 - Outline

Tue Nov 27 11:12:47 PST 2012

“*TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES*

*Jim & Marie Watt*

*Tel: 253-517-9195 - Email: jmbetter at gmail.com*

*Web: www.2rbetter.org*

November 27, 2012

 *JUL 9 - PROVERBS 31 - MOTHER AND WIFE*

 *1. 31:1 (31:1-7) LEMUEL: WARNINGS CONCERNING WINE AND WOMEN. “The words
of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him.” *(Some think this
was Bathsheba to Solomon, and that she is the model woman who follows.)
Father, may we remember the admonitions and instructions of our mother, and
our father also. As David and Bathsheba instructed Solomon, so may we
receive Your instruction Father, even through church leadership. *Hallowed
be your :name.*

 *2. 31:9 (31:8-9) ADMONITIONS FOR JUSTICE. “Open your mouth, judge
righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” *How often Your Holy
Spirit through Bible writers reminds us of the poor and needy! Let us heed
the Spirit’s admonitions. Let us plan always to meet these needs. *Your
:kingdom come.*

 *3. 31:11-12 (31:10-12) THE MODEL WOMAN. “The heart of her husband trusts
in her, and he will have no lack of gain. 12 She does him good, and not
harm, all the days of her life.” *A prudent wife is from You, O Jehovah,
and her husband finds good and favor from You. So have You blessed us
Father, through our mutual prayer. Praise be unto Your Name, O Jehovah
Father. *Your :will be done, As in heaven, so on earth.*

 *4. 31:14 (31:13-19) HER CEASELESS LABORS. “She is like the ships of the
merchant; she brings her food from afar.” *What a prudent wife is this, O
Father: always looking for bargains; always stretching dollars; always
making a house a home; always seeking to move in a servant spirit. We thank
You for such wives, O Father. Forgive us when we have failed to appreciate
Your wonderful gift to us. “Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the
days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is
your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun”
(Ecclesiastes 9:9). *Our :daily :bread Give us this day.*

 *5. 31:20 (31:20-22) HER WORKS: DESERVING RESPECT. “She opens her hand to
the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy.” *Bowels of compassion is
Your attribute Father, and so often You place this in our wives. So often a
man needs this insight that our wives give. Blessed are You O Jehovah,
Creator of the Universe, Who has blessed man with faithful wives! *And
forgive us our :debts, As we also have forgiven our :debtors.*

 *6. 31:23, 26 (31:23-27) HER CARE FOR HER HUSBAND. “Her husband is known
in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. 26 She opens her
mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” *Strength
is upon Your man Father, when You en-gift him with such a wife. We thank
You O Jehovah, for such a wonderful gift. May we ever be grateful to You
and her for such a gift. *And bring us not into temptation.*

 *7. 31: 28, 30 (31:28-31) HER PRAISE AND GODLINESS. “Her children rise up
and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her. 30 Charm is
deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be
praised.” *What a blessed home do You make Father, when You give such a
wife and mother as the glue to hold it together! *But deliver us from the
evil one!*

 This is a remarkable insight You have given us, O Father! May all men,
husbands, sons and daughters, walk in thanksgiving and praise for such a
wife and mother. Father, we bless you! Father, we praise You for ever and
ever. Amen!

 *Our Psalm for the day: 9:11 (9) I WILL RECOUNT YOUR WONDERFUL DEEDS! **“Sing
prises to the LORD, who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell among the people his
deeds!” *Father, if we want to dwell with You, we must come up higher. Your
dwelling place is the Most Holy Place within the veil. You dwell between
the cherubim. In Christ our Great High Priest we will press in! We will
learn intimately of You in the spirit, and will indeed tell all nations of
Your marvelous doings!

 9:1 *I will praise You, O Lord. *It sometimes needs all our determination
to face the foe and bless the Lord in the teeth of His enemies; vowing that
whoever else may be silent we shall bless His name; here however, the
overthrow of the foe is viewed as complete and the song flows with sacred
fullness of delight. It is our duty to praise the Lord; let us perform it
as a privilege. *With my whole heart. *Half heart is no heart! *I will show
forth all Your marvelous works. *Gratitude for one mercy refreshes the
memory as to thousands of others. One silver link in the chain draws up a
long series of tender remembrances. Here is eternal work for us, for there
can be no end to the showing forth of all His deeds of love.

 9:2 *I will be glad and rejoice in You. *God loves a cheerful giver,
whether it be the gold of his purse or the gold of his mouth which he
presents upon his altar. *I will sing praise to Your Name, O You most High.
*Songs are the fitting expressions of inward thankfulness, and it were well
if we indulged ourselves and honored our Lord with more of them. Mr. B. P.
Power has well said, “The sailors give a cheery cry as they weigh anchor,
the plowman whistles in the morning as he drives his team; the milkmaid
sings her rustic song as she sets about her early task; when the soldiers
are leaving friends behind them, they do not march out to the tune of the
‘Dead March in Saul,’ but to the quick notes of some lively air. A praising
spirit would do for us all that their songs and music do for them; and if
only we could determine to praise the Lord, we should surmount many a
difficulty which our low spirits never would have been equal to, and we
should do double the work which can be done if the heart be languid in its
beating, if we be crushed and trodden down in soul. As the evil spirit in
Saul yielded in the olden time to the influence of the harp of the son of
Jesse, so would the melancholy often take flight from us, if only we would
take up the song of praise.”

 9:4 *For You have maintained my right and my cause.* If we seek to
maintain the cause and honor of our Lord we may suffer reproach and
misrepresentation, but it is a rich comfort to remember that He Who sits in
the throne knows our hearts and will not leave us to the ignorance and
ungenerous judgment of erring man.

 9:13 *Have mercy upon me, O Lord. *Just as Luther used to call some texts
little Bibles, so we may call this sentence a little prayerbook; for it has
in it the soul and marrow of prayer.

 9:14 *That I may show forth all Your praise.* We must not overlook David’s
object in desiring mercy; it is God’s glory. Saints are not so selfish as
to look only to self; they desire mercy’s diamond that they may let others
see it flash and sparkle, and may admire Him who gives such priceless gems
to His beloved.

 9:17 *And all the nations that forget God. *There are whole nations of
such; the forgetters of God are far more numerous that the profane or
profligate and according to the very forceful expression of the Hebrew, the
nethermost hell will be the place into which all of them shall be hurled
headlong. Forgetfulness seems a small sin, but it brings eternal wrath upon
the man who lives and dies in it.

 9:20 *That the nations may know themselves to be but men. *One would think
that men would not grow so vain as to deny themselves to be but men, but it
appears to be a lesson which only a divine Schoolmaster can teach to some
proud spirits. Crowns leave the wearers *but men;* degrees of eminent
learning make their owners not more than *men;* valor and conquest cannot
elevate beyond the dead level of *but men*; and all the wealth of Croesus,
the wisdom of Solon, the power of Alexander, the eloquence of Demosthenes,
if added together, would leave the possessor but a man. May we ever
remember this, lest like those in the text, we should be *put in fear. *C.
H. S.

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