She doeth him good and not evil...

I know it shouldn't surprise us when we find that God's Word becomes deeper and more meaningful to us every time we study it, but sometimes it still amazes me just how much wisdom is packed into the smallest detail of the shortest verse! Our Creator certainly knows just what we need. I have really been enjoying this study... even if I am a day late (hopefully not a dollar short!) with my post this week. :)

Proverbs 31:12
She doeth him good and not evil All the days of her life.

There is so much that could be said about the many different ways that we can do good to our husbands. A thousand different areas could be discussed, and I know there are a lot of important "good deeds" that I haven't thought of and probably should, but this time I'm going to focus on a different aspect of this verse.

The concept that good is something you DO is very interesting to me. Of course we should always be striving to have good thoughts, etc. But in this usage, good is not something you think about and stop there. Though I'm not married yet (79 days!), this still has a lot of applicability to me. I have a bad tendency to have all the good intentions in the world and then not quite follow through all the way. It reminds me of James 2:15, 16

If a brother or sister be naked and in lack of daily food, and one of you say unto them,
Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled; and yet ye
give them not the things needful to the body; what doth it profit?

I know the greater context here is talking about faith and works being intertwined, but the example definitely also applies to doing good to our husbands (or anyone else, for that matter). Do we have nice words or thoughts, but never follow through, even in regular, everyday things? Intentions to be kind and good which never bear any fruit? Doing good for our husbands can include the simplest things like having clean clothes for him to wear and good food for him to eat. I don't know of anyone who absolutely loves doing load after load of laundry. But do we put it off and let it sit around so long that it somehow gets dirty again before it ever leaves the basket? (Yes... in case you're wondering... I've done that before. *hangs head*) Maybe it's stretching just a tiny bit, but consider James 2:15, 16 with the husband/wife relationship inserted...

If your husband be naked and in lack of daily food, and you say to him,
Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled; and yet you
don't give him the things his body needs; what does it profit?

I think the point is pretty clear that good is something we have to constantly work at doing... not just thinking about doing. That's a lesson that I need to learn.

I had a lot (and I mean a lot) more to say about this verse, but I'm trying really hard to keep these posts on the shorter/manageable side! :) Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!