Walking with the Wise #162: Life Builders

“The wisest of women builds her house,
but folly with her own hands tears it down.
—Proverbs 14:1

Knowledge is like having a set of tools. The more you know, the more tools you have at your disposal. However, wisdom means knowing how to use the tools. I know many men and women who have a great deal of knowledge, but have no idea how to use it. And I know others who don’t have a lot of knowledge, but are incredibly skillful in using it.
Knowing how to skillfully use the tools one has is what today’s proverb is about. The wisest of women knows how to build her house. Of course, the verse is not talking about literally constructing a house. It is about knowing how to build up the metaphorical house—how the woman loves her husband, raises and instructs her children, runs the household in the day to day activities, and plans ahead. The supreme example of a wise woman is found in Proverbs 31. She fears the Lord (v. 30), looks after the needs of her household (v. 27), is a hard and tireless worker (v. 13, 19, 27), making sure her family is clothed (v. 13), fed (v. 15), and financially stable (v. 16, 18). She is industrious (v. 16, 24), taking care of not only her own household, but also those who work for her (v. 15) and the poor in the community (v. 20). Her husband is blessed with honor at having such a wife (v. 23), and she receives praise from him and her children (v. 28). Such a wise woman is recognized and honored by the greater community for her sterling and illustrious example (v. 31).

The proverbs continually contrast the wise and the foolish. The wise woman builds her house up, but the foolish woman tears it down. The point we are to understand is that the power to build and destroy one’s proverbial house lies within us. For the wise woman, she builds her house up over time. But the foolish woman’s house is destroyed. Who destroys it? She does. There is no one to blame except her. Foolish living means failing to do what God wants us to do—i.e., abandoning our gender roles, failing to take care of our familial responsibilities, being lazy or idle, making foolish choices, and living an altogether selfish life. That type of foolishness causes the destruction of one’s household, and only living for God and following His Word for us enables one to escape such devastation.

Are you living the life that God’s Word advocates? Are you assuming the role that God has ordained for us? Or are you trying to buck that by living according to the philosophies of this world that, while popular, are guaranteed to bring heartache and destruction? Live the life God desires, assume the roles He has made each of us for, and then live in the knowledge that God’s blessing will be upon you, as you are obediently delighting in what God made you to be and do. Amen.