Our egalitatian-driven society, which calls for equal rights among all, has so bombarded us that it’s normal for men and women to both work outside the home while the children have childcare of some sort. Gone are the days when the norm comprised of a man who worked outside of the home and the woman who worked in the home and cared for and nurtured the children as her primary role. Of course, many suggest at this point that times are different and the cost of living is higher and things are just “different” in our culture. But I’d like to make the biblical base that the godly wife is find her primary work environment in the home keeping the house, caring for the children, and preparing for hospitality and service. The home is her ministry headquarters and she is the queen of the home to use it for gospel service and for it to be a warm, inviting and comfortable environment for her husband and family. Here are a few thoughts as I spell this out in greater detail.

Godly wives are to KEEP THE HOUSE.

First Timothy 5:14 speaks of younger widows who are to get married, to bear children, to keep house, and give the enemy no occasion for reproach. She is to “keep house” which literally is the idea of being the one who ‘runs the household.’ Very practically, while the husband is gone much of the day at work, she is the one who runs the home. She is in charge during the day. She is the authority in her husband’s absence. Godly wives must recover this mentality that they are to be those who run the house during the day and rule the household as their primary environment of work, labor, and daily service.

Godly wives are to BE WORKERS IN THE HOME.

Titus 2:3-5 speaks to older women encouraging and discipling younger women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored (v.5). The word in the Greek language for “workers at home” refers to one who is a hard worker in the home. She is busy at home. She is a laborious carer for the home. Quite simply: God tells older women to exhort younger women to love their husbands and to love their children and to be faithful, hard, diligent and busy workers in their homes. This is the primary place that God has called married women to serve in. They are not to neglect this to work outside the home. This is God’s gracious and wise design for Christian women who are married.

Godly wives are to WORK HARD WITH HER OWN HANDS IN DELIGHT.

Proverbs 31:13 speaks of the excellent wife who works with her hands in delight. Here is the godly wife who is a worker with her own hands in the home. She does such work with delight. She doesn’t hold a grudge and angrily resent where God has placed her but the excellent wife does this wonderful work as receiving this wonderful calling on her life from God. And thus, the godly woman does her work with delight and satisfaction.

Godly wives are to DIE TO SELF TO SERVE THE FAMILY.

Proverbs 31:14-15 again speaks of the excellent wife who works hard to provide food for the family and she even rises early while it’s still night and give food to her household (v.15). The godly woman is a worker in the home in that she goes to bed late because she’s been serving, cleaning, ministering to her husband, and spending quality time with him and with the children. And then, she often is one of the first to arise in the mornings as a woman who has died to self to serve the family with joy -- even if that means rising while it’s still dark outside to serve Christ by fulfilling her God-given duties!

Godly wives are to MAKE THE HOME A PLACE OF MINISTRY.

Proverbs 31:20 speaks of the excellent wife who stretches out her hands to the needy and provides for their needs. She actively sends out her hands -- she stretches them out by physical exertion and great effort -- to serve and care for the needy. Perhaps there are those with needs in your neighborhood, or in your church, or in your school, or in your city and you, as a godly wife, seek to make your home a place where you work and labor hard to provide for those in need. How can you open your home for the benefit of others and incorporate your home as a base for your ministry to the Lord and to His people?

Godly wives are STRONG AND DIGNIFIED AND FULLY TRUSTING.

Again, the excellent wife in Proverbs 31 is one who is described as being a woman of strength and dignity and one who smiles at the future (v.25). The woman of God is one who is described, like the excellent wife in our text, as having strength and dignity. She’s a woman with might and majesty. She’s a woman of strength and integrity. She fully trusts her God and her husband and can smile at the future as she rests fully in her hard work, her faithful service, and in the kind providence of her loving heavenly Father. Do you find yourself being described in these verses? Are you a woman of biblical strength? A woman of great dignity? Are you fully trusting the Lord that you can smile at the many uncertainties in the future?

May the Lord so graciously help and enable and grace you to be a Godly wife who is a worker at home, God’s primary place of ministry for you, all for His praise and glory!