Her Children Rise Up and Call Her Blessed

“Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her…
Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.”

With today’s devotional, we finally see the result, the benefit to all our hard work, provided we are willing to do the work we have talked about. This is the result we can expect from our children and our husbands for a job well done. What mother after years of hard work and sleepless nights wouldn’t want her children to rise up and call her blessed?

Just a note here but the age of the children is not given, in the verse or in the context. There is no reason why our children should not be taught to show respect and appreciation even when they are young. Part of this will happen naturally if your husband models respect for you at home. Sons especially need to see their fathers showing due respect to their wives, not only so they will repeat that with their mothers but also so they will see how to treat their wives in the future. But as a wife, you must do the same for your husband. If you do not model respect for your husband, your children will find it hard to do the same. I can’t express to you what a huge impact your attitude about your husband and his authority has on your children. If you despise him in anyway, your children will almost always do the same. They will pick up any negative attitudes, opinions, thoughts or actions faster than you can correct them. If you want children that are ready and willing to be respectful and showing honor for authority, you have to show them by your example just what that looks like. And the sooner you start the better for all of you.

What a blessing to have the fruit of our hands; a tangible way to show what we have been working so hard for! One meaning of the word fruit in the Bible is children. We want the reward of raising Godly children who are truly a gift for work diligently performed. We should be building a collection of good works, not so they can save us, but so that we will have something of worth to show for our time here on the earth. Each of the things we have been talking about for the last few weeks have been ways to work well and have something good to show for our efforts. We want our own works to speak for themselves. And we want that speech to be praise, not condemnation for time wasted.

Let us strive to raise our children in such a way that we will be blessed to be their mothers. Let us work daily to serve our husbands so they will be able honestly to praise us in the gates. And let us never forget that no matter what happens here, regardless of our failings, the Lord sees what we do and will reward our heart of service if we are faithful to Him and His word.

A note about next week...We will be talking during our last week together about what the Proverbs 31 woman is not. There are many misinterpretations of her character in modern "Christian" literature and we will talk about the ideas presented in those books then. See you Monday!