P.S. please forgive all the funky fonts -- blogger and word apparently do not get along. i try to fix it as I catch it but sometimes it jumps right back to the weird stuff.
See verse 10 here.
See verse 11 here.
See verse 12 here.
See verse 13 here.
See verse 14 here.
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Proverbs 31:15
She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household
and plan the day’s work for her servant girls.
Character Traits:
Let me just say right off the bat that I don’t get up before dawn to do ANY-thing. What jumps out to me here is “prepare” and “plan.”
Character Trait 1:
Prepare
Definition:
--to make ready beforehand; to put together the elements of
Verses in the Bible about it:
Exodus 12:39
For bread they baked flat cakes from the dough without yeast they had brought from Egypt. It was made without yeast because the people were driven out of Egypt in such a hurry that they had no time to prepare the bread or other food.
Exodus 19:10
Then the Lord told Moses, “Go down and prepare the people for my arrival. Consecrate them today and tomorrow, and have them wash their clothing.
Job 11:13
“If only you would prepare your heart and lift up your hands to him in prayer!
Deuteronomy 12:2
When you prepare for battle, the priest must come forward to speak to the troops.
Proverbs 24:27
Do your planning and prepare your fieldsbefore building your house.
Amos 4:12
“Therefore, I will bring upon you all the disasters I have announced. Prepare to meet your God in judgment, you people of Israel!”
Luke 12:47
“And a servant who knows what the master wants, but isn’t prepared and doesn’t carry out those instructions, will be severely punished.
2 Timothy 3:17
God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
2 Timothy 4:2
Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.
Revelation 19:7
Let us be glad and rejoice,and let us give honor to him.For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb,and his bride has prepared herself.
Summary:
If ever I want a good study at random, I will pull up the word ‘prepare’ in a topical index. It is amazing the number of verses that come up. Obviously God likes for His people to be ready. In the case of this woman, I would say that she recognizes the element of anticipation and expectation. Knowing what is needed, she ‘makes ready beforehand’ just as the definition suggests even if it requires her to lose sleep or other things that are important to her.
Character Trait 2:
Plan
Definition:
--a method or scheme of acting, doing, or arranging; to have in mind; goal or aim
Verses in the Bible about it:
Numbers 23:21
No misfortune is in his plan for Jacob; no trouble is in store for Israel. For the Lord their God is with them; he has been proclaimed their king.
Proverbs 14:22
If you plan to do evil, you will be lost; if you plan to do good, you will receive unfailing love and faithfulness.
Proverbs 21:30
No human wisdom or understanding or plan can stand against the Lord.
Isaiah 5:19
They even mock God and say, “Hurry up and do something! We want to see what you can do. Let the Holy One of Israel carry out his plan, for we want to know what it is.”.
Isaiah 14:26
I have a plan for the whole earth, a hand of judgment upon all the nations.
Jeremiah 10:23
I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course.
Acts 2:23
But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him.
1 Corinthians 2:27
No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God —his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began.
Ephesians 1:11
Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.
Ephesians 3:6
And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 1:9
For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Summary:
If ever you want to know just how much God loves you and how much thought He has put into preparing for you, just look up the word ‘plan’ in a topical dictionary. Reading through all those verses gave me such a feeling of being loved. Imagine how this woman’s family must have felt too knowing that she not only had been up to prepare for them but also planned out what needed to be done for their comfort and well-being.
Conclusion for this verse:
Loving a family enough to care for it, not haphazardly or flying by the seat of your pants, but with dedicated time and energy is definitely following God’s own example in caring for His children. All the verses that point to His active and purposeful planning and preparation for us are a template to follow.
This woman obviously has children (as is evident in a later verse) so I’m sure she knows just how quickly a plan can be waylaid. I would expect that she makes a plan for her household but is not its slave. Part of the definition of the word ‘plan’ includes ‘goal or aim.’ That suggests that the plan she makes may have a primary goal which is certainly met even though specific plans may fall by the road due to circumstances.
Comments:
Making a plan, at least a written one, is still fairly new to me in terms of my household. But being planned and prepared for is a feeling I recognize and appreciate. So I can understand how those for whom it is done would feel too. I should make more of an effort to look for needs that may come up and plan for meeting them. Being purposeful in addressing my family’s care is in many ways following God’s own example for me and reflecting Him.
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