What Is A Woman Part 6
What Is A Woman Part 6
In this blog series, I have been discussing the fundamentals of what being a woman is according to the Bible, which is our only source of truth. My last two blogs have begun to talk about the application of those fundamental principles. We have discussed what a woman’s attitude and dress should be like. This week we are going to discuss a woman’s work.
First, I want to review with you from my 4th blog post in this series the attitude God calls women to have. This is essential in understanding how women are to work. In that post I said this: “But if we want to live out what the Bible says about womanhood and manhood, we need to return to the original pre-fall plan of God. The essence is selfless service and voluntary submission to each other. Elizabeth Elliott…says: “The world looks for happiness through self-assertion. The Christian knows that joy is found in self abandonment. ‘If a man will let himself be lost for My sake,’ Jesus said, ‘he will find his true self’. “
There is no better place to see this attitude in action than the Proverbs passage that describes the virtuous woman. Proverbs 31:10-31 “An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life. She looks for wool and flax, and works with her hands in delight. She is like merchant ships; she brings her food from afar. She rises also while it is still night, and gives food to her household, and portions to her maidens. She considers a field and buys it; From her earnings she plants a vineyard. She girds herself with strength and makes her arms strong. She senses that her gain is good; Her lamp does not go out at night. She stretches out her hand to the distaff, and her hands grasp the spindle. She extends her hand to the poor; and she stretches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of the snow for her household, for all her household are clothed with scarlet. She makes coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple. Her husband is known in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies belts to the tradesmen. Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future. She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and bless her; Her husband also, and he praises her, saying: ‘Many daughters have done nobly, but you excel them all.’ Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her the product of her hands and let her works praise her in the gates.”
God inspired the writer of Proverbs to give us a portrait of a wonderful woman who is very busy! She works diligently (she looks well to the ways of her household). But notice the focus of her work. She fulfills the essence of womanhood by serving her family and her community by her work. And ultimately she does it for the Lord because she fears Him.
But what does the Bible really say about work? We live in a society that despises work. I need to give you a basic understanding of what the Bible says about work before we can look more carefully at the specifics of a woman’s work.
Our society sees work as unpleasant drudgery. Everyone lives for weekends, vacations, and retirement. They put in the minimum effort to keep their job. Socialists and Marxists go farther in their view of work and see work as a tool of oppression. Many are embracing this concept when they talk about people being entitled to a minimum income with no work requirements. The Smithsonian Museum of African American History has the ridiculous and insidious belief that the value of hard work is part of “white culture”, and of course is racist. In contrast, the Bible tells us that work is a good thing given to everyone by God to give us all we need in this life. The Bible talks a great deal about work and commands us to work hard. Here are the basic principles from the Bible about work:
1. Work was given to Adam and Eve by God before their fall into sin. When the world was still perfect, they had work to do. Genesis 2:15“Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.” They had a very large responsibility not just to cultivate and keep the garden, but to rule over the earth. Genesis 1:28 “And God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
2. When Adam and Eve fell into sin, work became much harder. One of the consequences of Adam and Eve sinning is that the whole world is cursed and work is hard. Genesis 3:17b -19a “Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground….”
3. Work is still a gift God gives us to provide for our needs. Here are just a few verses showing this: Proverbs 28:19 “He who tills his land will have plenty of food, but he who follows empty pursuits will have poverty in plenty.” Ecclesiastes 3:13 “Moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor-it is the gift of God.” Proverbs 21:25 “The desire of the sluggard puts him to death, for his hands refuse to work.” Proverbs 20:4 “The sluggard does not plow after the autumn, so he begs during the harvest and has nothing.” Proverbs 24:30-34 “I passed by the field of the sluggard, and by the vineyard of the man lacking sense; and behold it was completely overgrown with thistles, its surface was covered by nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, then your poverty will come as a robber and your want like an armed man.”
4. God works. Since we are made in His image, we too should be workers. In Genesis 1, and throughout the Bible, there are many references to God’s work of creation, and His rest on the seventh day. Genesis 2:2 “And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.” The Psalms are full of references to the works of God, both in creation, sustaining that creation, and helping His people. Psalm 145 is one psalm that lists works of God throughout the psalm. God is to be praised because of His mighty acts and wonderful works. Colossians 1:16-17 and Hebrews 1:3 talk about God making all things and upholding them by His power. The ultimate work of God was the work of redemption when the Father sent the Son to die on the cross and rise again. The gospel of John is full of references to the work of God. In John 17:4, Jesus says to the Father, “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given me to do.” Before He died on the cross he declared “It is finished” as His work as our substitutionary sacrifice was completed.
5. The Bible is clear that laziness is a sin and that those who will not work should not eat. I have already quoted a few verses about the sluggard in the Proverbs. Proverbs has many more verses about laziness. Here is one that roundly condemns the lazy man: Proverbs 18:9 “He who is slack in his work is brother to him who destroys.” In Ephesians 4, God tells us the sins we should put off and the contrasting behaviors to put on. Verse 28 addresses work, “Let him who steals steal no longer, but rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who has need.” In II Thessalonians 3:6-13 Paul addresses the issue of work and says this in verse 10 “For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone will not work, neither let him eat.” In I Timothy 5:8 Paul sternly rebukes the lazy man: “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever.”
6. We work to the glory of God. Humans are all longing to have meaning and purpose in life. God fulfills that longing for us who believe in Him. We do all our work to the glory of God. What higher purpose is there? Whether a person is working at any paid vocation, being a stay at home mom, cleaning the house, making a meal, or volunteering in the community, our work has deeper meaning and purpose because we are doing it for the Lord. That should give us joy and purpose in the day to day monotony. That overriding purpose also protects us from getting caught up in the love of money, which leads to our destruction. It also protects us from doing sinful things to earn money. Here are some verses about this concept: In Ephesians 5:5-8, Paul discusses the behavior of the Roman empire equivalent of our modern day employee: ”be obedient to those who are your masters….in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.” Colossians 3:23-24:“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men; knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” I Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang.” Hebrews 13:5 “Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you’.”
Here is a quote by Charles Kingsley that helps us think of work how God thinks of it instead of how our culture thinks of it. “Thank God every morning when you get up that you have something to do which must be done, whether you like it or not. Being forced to work, and forced to do your best, will breed in you temperance, self-control, diligence, strength of will, content, and a hundred other virtues which the idle never know.”
In contrast to our culture, God calls us to diligent, joyful work that reflects His glory and shows how we are made in His image. The Proverbs 31 woman gives us a wonderful example of a woman who works for the good of her family. She understood that work was a gift from God for our good and the good of those around us. The Proverbs 31 woman clearly lived in an affluent household where she could have easily been lazy and made others work instead of her. But she did the right thing and set the example for us. Let us also work diligently and to the glory of God in whatever sphere of influence and stage of life God has put us.
Here is a song to dedicate our work to the Lord: Before You I Kneel (A Worker's Prayer) - Keith & Kristyn Getty - YouTube
I am going to discuss more principles that we can glean from the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31 in my next blog. V
Verse to memorize in response: Colossians 3:23.
Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback. You can email me at candice@anastasihome.com