"She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life."
Proverbs 31:12 ESV
Right off the bat I feel this sense of she is her husbands' physical and grounding peace of this realm. Not the supernatural peace that only the LORD can provide, but a stable and consistent support system for her partner. But on further meditation, there is a sense of not only consistent peace but consistent action. She does, not just she is...
Here in this verse there is a very clear sense (and a clear picture) of a Proverbs 31 wife, being action-oriented and in all honesty, almost a portrayal and embodiment of the LORD's fruit of the Spirit of goodness. She fears the LORD and thus, she does good for her household. She is driven by the desire to bring peace and unity and goodness into her home, and rebukes what is harmful. She does this all the days of her life and not just went she decides to or when it is convenient to her personal life. She serves her family.
This denotes a lifelong impact, "all the days of her life." She is a long-term, big picture visionary. She can hold a long-term goal for not only herself but also her husband and her family. She's able to see a big picture clearly and understand life is only about the day-to-day as it pertains to the greater vision and goals of her household. She lives in the presence and yet is able to actively work towards the big picture. Everything she does is aligned with a bigger goal, she lives in the presence and yet she doesn't live in her worldly or fleshly impulsivity. She can be patient.
All the days of her life is a consistency in her ministry, especially at home with her husband their vision/future together. Going back to the previous verse, "the heart of her husband trusts her..." -- he knows and trusts in her capabilities and her life long impact on their lives together as one.
Woman have a super role-- not necessarily easy by any means, but here it showcases how we are designed to hold a lot, all at once, especially as a human being who fears the LORD first and invites him into life to gain his strength and not rely on our humanly strength which is so faulty and frail and weak.
To be our husbands support system and do good all the days of our life could be construed as, "well that must mean I can't have good things and I have to do everything for my husband and I'm always the last one thought of and I'm a mom and everyone is before me, and I can't have anything, and what baloney to be a woman who has to do everything and hold everything together and yet I receive the last portion of everything..."
I don't know if you've ever experienced those thoughts... but this verse really speaks to me about when we support and we do our husband good all the days of our life, we will be blessed. The LORD will bless us. And in the 20th century, it may even feel a little sexist and un-feminist to think WE have to be the ones to support our husbands, but I'd like to challenge that way of thinking as we women know, our brains are wired to hold many things at once. Men hold one thing at a time. That's not a fault on either side of the spectrum, it's a key for our relationship to understand how to build each other up and where unfortunately we tend to knock each other down.
All in all this verse really resonates in my spirit as the proverbs 31 woman is consistent. She is consistently active, showing up, supporting, and doing good. She will be fallen, as we all are, but she will continue to do what she needs to do to provide goodness for her husband and ultimately her household, and in the grand scheme of things, her very own life.
Thank you LORD for weaving women in this way. We are blessed because of you, even when we didn't deserve it.
