Faithful

"The heart of her husband safely trusts her;
So he will have no lack of gain." Proverbs 31:11

In this verse today, we discover that the Proverbs 31 woman is faithful, loyal, and trustworthy. Those are pretty outstanding credentials if you ask me. The heart of her husband safely trusts her- he has complete confidence in her faithfulness, in her loyalty and in her trustworthiness. He can share any secret with her, any bit of confidence and know that she will hold that confidence within her heart. No matter what. He can also trust her with his household, trust that she will keep the household matters running smoothly, and that the bank books will match up.

And his reward is that she will greatly enrich his life, she will bring him good and he will be well-known and respected because of her trustworthiness and faithfulness to him. According to verse 10, his greatest asset IS is his wife.

It's very interesting that this particular chapter in Proverbs uses trust. In other Proverbs we find that the Bible says to trust no other but God.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5

"Those who listen to instruction will prosper;
those who trust the Lord will be joyful." Proverbs 16:20

"Greed causes fighting;
trusting the Lord leads to prosperity.

26 Those who trust their own insight are foolish,
but anyone who walks in wisdom is safe." Proverbs 28:25,26

Yet here in Proverbs 31:11 we see that trust in the Godly woman is also acceptable. That is pretty amazing in and of itself. The husband can trust in his wife's faithfulness, the husband's heart does not fear because he has full trust and confidence in his wife.

To me, all this is humbling. One area of my life that immediately sticks out that could use some work is in the area of money. There are just times where one paycheck doesn't make it to another, and to me that is cause for distress for my husband. While my money management skills have greatly improved over time, it still needs work, so that my husband no longer needs to worry about whether or not he can put gas in his car or buy a new pair of pants.

What I can honestly say I do meet in this woman today is that of confidence. I think I've become unabashedly conscious of gossip and not doing it myself. When someone shares something in confidence with me, I am certain to maintain that confidence unless I am asked not to do so. And I do think that people see that in me. I have had more than one person lately approach me with a strange conversation, but they obviously need someone to talk to, and since I won't share their burdens with others, I guess I work in that capacity. That is a great encouragement to me today. As I am reading through the traits of this Godly woman and realizing how much more I need to do to become her, to find a trait that I possess is encouraging. I thank God for that encouragement, as well as the humbleness today.