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Her Children Rise Up and Call Her Blessed

Husbands, does your wife see Yeshua (Jesus) in you? We want to look at the family as we celebrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day these next two months. We want to take a closer look at the role of the father and mother in the family, because today the devil is out to destroy families. He has succeeded over the years in destroying this divine unity, so we need to take our families back, and the Bible tells us how to do that.

The writer of Proverbs 31 speaks of the virtues of a worthy woman. We know that Mother’s Day is a special time of year because mothers are special. Even though fathers are so important in the family (for they are the building blocks of the family), mothers are the glue that holds the family together. So we are going to look at mothers as wives, and fathers as they make the family work as a unit.

The writer of Proverbs describes the woman of the house. He begins in verse 10 by telling us that her worth is far above jewels. In today’s world, we only think materialistic thoughts. Worth is measured in dollars and cents, and value is only what kind of return you can get; but God’s ways go beyond such things.

Verse 25 says, “Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future.”

Verse 30 goes on, “Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord shall be blessed.” Peter tells us in 1 Peter 3:3-4, “And let not your adornment be merely external—braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.” Peter was not telling women to not look nice, but that their worth goes way beyond just a pretty face.

Proverbs 31:11 says, “The heart of her husband trusts her, and he will have no lack of gain.” Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:28, “So husbands ought also to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself.” When the husband loves his wife and honors her, then her children will see, and follow his lead, because he is the head of the house, the shepherd who leads his flock.

Proverbs 31:12: “She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.” When the husband leads and loves his flock, the wife and children will follow him. Yeshua (Jesus) tells His followers that He is the Good Shepherd, and He lays down his life for His sheep. The husband, the father, is the shepherd who leads his flock and when he lays down his life for his family, there is peace and life and goodness, and the family prospers. Paul again tells the Ephesians in Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands love your wives just as Messiah also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.”

Proverbs 31:23 says, “Her husband is known in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land.” The virtues of a worthy woman is that, “She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teachings of kindness is on her tongue” (Verse 26). Ephesians 5:26 tells us that the husband, like Messiah, sanctifies his wife like “Messiah sanctifies the church and cleanses her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless.”

In the case of an unbelieving husband or wife, Paul tells the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 7:14, “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through the believing wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified be her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean. But now they are holy.”

This takes us to our beginning: the children. Paul tells the Ephesians in chapter 6:1-4, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth. And fathers, do not provoke your children to anger; but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Children are to respect and honor their parents, but children have to be taught. Proverbs 22:6 tells us, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” We see Proverbs 4-9 begins the instructions of a father to his son:

“Hear, O son, the instruction of a father, and give attention that you may gain understanding, for I give you sound teaching, do not abandon my instruction. When I was a son to my father, tender and the only son in the sight of my mother, then he taught me and said to me, ‘Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments and live.”

We see a father who teaches his son the things that his father taught him. God called Abraham because He knew that Abraham would teach his children in the way to go. The importance of a father’s teaching: it is the building blocks of the family from generation to generation—not that a mother never teaches. She does, and the children learn love for one another, and forgiveness, and how to give of themselves and to others.

Proverbs 31:20 tells us, “She extends her hand to the poor; and she stretches out her hands to the needy.” Paul tells Timothy, “For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.” Paul does not mention Timothy’s father; maybe he had died, or maybe his father was an unbeliever. There are many single parent homes for one reason or another, but still, in spite of it all, the believing parent who has to be father and mother can still raise up a child to honor and respect them, and even their grandparents. They must pick up the torch and lead the way to truth and light, which God our Father lead us in. God fills in where we may fall short. He is a father who loves His children and provides for them and protects them, and we can be the mirror that reflects God’s love.

Paul tells Titus in chapter 2:1-8, “Speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance. Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips, nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, that they may encourage the young woman to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be dishonored. Likewise urge young men to be sensible; in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity of doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, in order that the opponent may be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.”

Men, let your wives and children see Yeshua in you; and wives and mothers, be worthy women so your children will rise up and call you blessed and you will give respect and dignity to your husbands.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers, and happy Father’s day to all you fathers, and may God bless you and your family.