Look well and be not idle

Look well and be not idle

Scripture:- She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Proverbs 31:27

Observation:- This Proverb is taken from the last chapter of the book of Proverbs, and speaks of one the characteristics of the woman of virtue – the godly, perfect Proverbs 31 woman. There are two things that this verse says about her.

Firstly, she looks well to the ways of her household. She is aware of the things that go on in the house – the way the children treat each other, how the maid does the work, how her husband feels when he gets up in the morning and returns from work. She is interested in what goes on around her and thinks and plans and sees how she can help make the household run better.

As I mentioned before in a previous message, we have four houses, our bodies, our homes, our church and our place of work. In each area, we could learn like the wise woman to be alert and look well at it, to see what areas we can improve, what dangers we can avert. In our bodies, we need to be especially concerned about our spirit man. Are we at peace with God and with others? If we make sure our inner man is strong, our physical body will also be strong. That’s why its so important we take time to read the Word, to seek God, to spend time in prayer.

In our families, we need to open our eyes and take notice of how our children are developing. Quite often, we should take each kid out one to one and have a chat. Likewise, husband and wife should make some time to talk and fellowship with one another and keep in touch with how each is doing.

In our church, if we are in positions of leadership, we need to keep our eyes open and see how our sheep are doing. For each member, in church or cell group, it is good to look out and lend a helping hand or ear to others and look for opportunity to do good and be of help. At our workplace, it is also important to look and see which colleague might need a helping hand or kind word.

In all these areas, we are called to be diligent and not eat the bread of idleness, the second thing said of the woman of virtue. Idle hands are the devil’s workshop. Therefore it is important for us to always seek things of worth to busy ourselves in, especially helping others and improving our four houses.

Application: Be vigilant and see how our own selves, our families, our church and our workplace is doing. Be diligent in doing good and improving things around us.

Prayer: Lord, help me be vigilant and open my eyes to see what needs to be done in my life, my family, my church, my workplace. Give me diligent hands to do your work of grace wherever I go. In Jesus name, Amen.