So, as you can see, or at least I hope you can see, my crown of glory. I was a teenager in the 70s. I was not a follower of Christ then until I was well into my 30s, so I was very influenced by the whole feministic movement through the 70s and 80s. So the first time I read the Proverbs 31 woman, I thought, wow, a feminist. She's quite the businesswoman. She chooses a field and plants it. She's planted a vineyard. She makes her merchandise. She sells her merchandise. She reinvests her profits. She was a very savvy businesswoman. And I think that as we look at this, we'll see more clearly, we can do a lot of business. All her business pursuits were things that she did from home. She had two very clear priorities in her life, two things that ruled her. The first one, was that every decision she made was based on her fear of the Lord, and her second priority in life was her family. Very clearly through these verses we'll see that. If you go back to the first verse of the chapter of Proverbs 31, you'll see that this is King Lemuel's mother giving advice on what he should look for in in a wife. So looking at these two priorities is what she was giving him to do. So let's read the verses. Proverbs 31, starting in verse 10. Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her, so he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life. She seeks wool and flax and willingly works with her hands. She is like the merchant ships. She brings her food from afar. She also rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and a portion for her maidservants. She considers a field and buys it. From her profits, she plants a vineyard. She girds herself with strength and strengthens her arms. She perceives that her merchandise is good and her lamp does not go out by night. She stretches out her hands to the distaff, and her hand holds the spindle. She extends her hands to the poor. Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household is clothed with scarlet. She makes tapestry for herself. Her clothing is fine linen and purple. Her husband is known in the gates where he sits among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them, supplies sashes for the merchants. Strength and honor are her clothing. She shall rejoice in time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom and on her tongue is the law of kindness. She watches over the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed. Oh, sorry. I got ahead of myself. She watches over the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praises her. Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all. Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates. So this is an industrious woman. She works, seeks wool and flax, considers a field and buys it, plants the vineyard, sells her merchandise, which she's made herself, and she sells linen garment. At the same time, she's given her husband what he needs to trust her. She is fed and clothed the household. He doesn't have any concerns about what's happening at home. She's up early in the day. She provides food for all of her family, including her maidservants. Nobody worries about being cold because they've got what they need. She reaches out to the poor and needy. Titus 2 says that older women should teach younger women to be busy at home. Read Proverbs 31 this woman is busy at home by example. She teaches us that So ladies does that describe us? Here is a woman who's kept her eyes and her heart on things that will most benefit her husband, her children, her family in general. In our own context of a business conference, it's really a very fitting passage. Not just because she's industrious, But because most of us are married to men who want to take dominion, who want to include the business world in that, and so how does the Proverbs 31 woman show us that we can be a helpmate in taking dominion? As a woman married to a man with an entrepreneurial spirit, in other words, he is the risk taker in our family, I find it fascinating. Today, even after praying about who we're going to marry and when we meet the man we think is the right man, we want to, in the fear of the Lord, we want to seek God's will for these things and know what it means to be married to a man who is going to have an entrepreneurial spirit. These men generally have no pension waiting for them. There is not a huge benefits packet. They may be required to give one, but they may not have one. Most of us women, like our security, generally we're not the risk takers. So, I believe as we look at the virtuous wife of Proverbs 31, Her security was in the Lord, in her fear of the Lord. She's working hard, she's doing what she needs to do and relying on the Lord for these other things. This woman had the trust of her husband. It says, so he will have no lack of gain. One of the first things I think we have to understand is that this was a biblical marriage. These two lived as one. Do we live with our husbands as one? King Lemuel's mother was clearly seeing that her son needed someone who was capable of being his helpmate. Both husband and wife benefit when a marriage is lived by biblical principles. We appreciate what our husbands do, and we'd come alongside of them as a team member. As we go through the rest of this passage, it's clear why her children rise up and call her blessed. This woman is strong, smart, and industrious. A quick overview shows us that this wife worked with her hands. She did both dainty work and dirty work. She was willingly working and providing for her household. Think about this. She has maidservants. Wouldn't today we say, well, listen, why don't you sleep in and let your maidservants do the work? I think the implication is that she was an overseer for her household. She cares for her family and she cares for her servants. She wants to know that things are done well, that things are done on time. She's able to oversee but also to do the work herself. As a source of income, she did things she could do from home or on her property. As a woman, I think it can be overwhelming for us to look at these verses. So I just want to say it again, she did have servants. She considered and bought the field, but it's highly unlikely that she planted the field. She did oversee the work. She considers a field and buys it. Ladies, I think this says she used her mind. I'm so tired of hearing people say, I just need one more glass of wine to get through this day as a mom. This woman didn't need wine, she just worked. To consider means she thought about it. What's it going to cost? How many people is it going to take to work it? How far is it from my home? Can I get this work done? Is it going to be profitable? I'm sure she discussed these things with her husband and he entrusted the transaction to her. The other thing that this says to me is that it wasn't their first year of marriage. These people had built a relationship based on trust. They had seen what each other could do. This is especially, I think, in financial trust. Her capabilities in this family business were seen by her husband, and he felt secure in her decision-making skills. That takes time. Do you and I work with our husbands, interact with them enough for them to know our strengths? And are we interested enough in what they're doing that we know their strengths? Do we know what they're doing to provide for the family in a way that we can see what's needed as a helpmate? Are we willing to work with our hands at home so that the children are cared for and a husband is respected in the gate, outside of the house? If we're blessed with finances enough to pay servants, do we oversee them well? Do we have proper expectations? One of the other things that isn't stated, but it's kind of implied here in her consideration, is that she was obviously wise with the family money. She considers the purchases she makes. Her husband doesn't worry about how the money's going to be spent. She's proven her wisdom, and he doesn't have to think about that. Are you and I trustworthy with our family finances? Credit in our day is easy to use, but it's also easy to abuse. She girds herself with strength. God is her strength, her fear of the Lord. She's generous to the poor. She helps the needy. She's not afraid of snow because everyone has what they need to weather any storm in her household. Her clothing is fine linen and purple. That says to me that she takes care of herself too. When she goes out, she appears cared for and provided for. Verse 23 tells us, her husband is known in the gates when he sits with the elders of the land. In the context of this passage, I think that's a clear implication that that's partially because of his wife. He's able to serve at the gates because he's secure in his wife's ability to keep things at home going well. What others see is a woman who's well cared for. She dresses in fine linen and purple, which reflects well on her husband. Even the children are well cared for. They don't just look good, but they're calling her blessed. What mother doesn't want to hear her children call her blessed? It adds to the respect that her husband receives at the gate. The way the business world is now, we may never even meet the actual people our husbands work with day to day. But as we live in our communities, as we post things on social media, we can make or break their reputation. It's not to say that a man's reputation is his wife's responsibility. I'm not saying that. But we can be an influence on what people think of our husbands by the way we live and by the way we act publicly. We can see that that's going to have a positive or a negative effect. Even in our churches, the way our marriage appears to our peers can have an effect. The opposite is also true, that his reputation can affect the wife. A family is reliant on each other, husband and wife. I went to a pastor once about a woman who had come to me. Her husband was an elder in the church and things at home were just a mess. And I approached the pastor about it and he looked at me and he said, Beth, I can look at her and see that she's not well loved. And it was true. Her pain was very evident. A good marriage where both considers the other more important than themselves produces a visible picture of God's plan for husband and wife. So ladies, do we do our part at home and in the way that we handle the family money or our ideas about working and being busy at home? What about our community presence? What goes on our social media? Do we say things that reflect badly on our husbands? Do we post stupid mail memes? They're very popular, but what's that say to our husband, our fathers, our sons? Most importantly, what do the things that we post and the way we live for the world to see say to the public? What do they convey about God's plan for marriage and the family, for His design, for the leadership of the man in the family? People listen to what they say. They learn about our faith and our God from the way that we live. What are we teaching other people? By what we say publicly and what we do in our own home and what we say on social media. Verse 26 says, she opens her mouth with wisdom and on her tongue is the law of kindness. Wouldn't you love it if that was what people were saying about you? In his commentary, John Gill points out that this wisdom and the law of kindness are specifically saying she knew the Word of God. In her marriage, as a mother, in the marketplace, everything she did, she did out of her fear of the Lord. In her dealings with the poor and needy, everything she did. Every area of life. Living according to God's Word. Do you and I know God's Word well enough to live according to it? Early in our marriage, when Bing was first in his entrepreneurial pursuit, he would say, what do you need? What do you need this week to pay the bills? We are the ones who can help. to bring down the family finances. We are the ones who can look at what priorities we need to set and live in a way that enables them to go out and pursue the work that God calls them to do. Prime example of this is Katharina Luther, Martin Luther's wife. She took this three-story old monastery and turned it into a hotel and a dormitory. People paid to stay there, to come here. teach and so in this business she did this and she did several other things one commentator said that the income from the dorm and the hotel were invested in more revenue streams eventually she had an orchard and a vineyard and animals and all kinds of different things that she did right from this property and including a brewery in her home She was a dynamic woman. One historian wrote that there would never have been Luther's table talks if his wife had not provided the table. Are we using our skills for our family good? Are we being productive in ways that benefit our husbands? The most important thing we need to emulate is the fear of the Lord. Everything she did, she did because God had prescribed a way to do it. She knew His way, she feared Him enough to want to follow Him. If our husbands are just getting started in a business or if they are going back to the same old grind that they've been in, we can be the one to ease the load at home. We're the ones who care for his family. We can live on a little less if we need to. And as you've seen, we can provide sources of income. that are perfectly legitimate, that do not drag us too far from home. When we do, our husbands gain respect in the workplace and in the community, and our children are blessed. Our husbands have a weight of leadership that we can lighten if we will live according to the Word of God. They're not easy decisions to make about how we're going to school our children and how we're going to fund our health care and all of those things, but we can do it with the Lord's help. A Proverbs 31 woman is true to the dominion mandate. A woman whose husband finds her trustworthy, who strives to care for her children, his children well, to keep her home, to provide streams of income where she can without being taken far from home. Not just so she brings greater respect and honor to her husband, but to the God whom she serves. When we consider or really think about how we live and interact at home in the community, what do we need to think about? What do we need to consider to take dominion for Jesus Christ? Can we give up our worldly thinking about family and work to do things in the fear of the Lord our God.