. WORK HARD AND DON’T RESENT IT
She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. – Proverbs 31:13, ESV
Don’t resent the work God has given you to do, seek after it and embrace it. The Proverbs 31 woman doesn’t shy away from work or see it as a curse but recognize it is part of the life-giving purpose God has created her to fulfill. Instead of seeing our work as simply a burden to check off, let’s embrace our ability to mirror God as He worked in the 6 days He created the world. While our work may be harder because of the Fall, it is still beautiful and life-giving. We should embrace it as such.
2. GET TO WORK, DON’T LET IT GET TO YOU
She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. – Proverbs 31:15, ESV
Wake up early. (I’m mostly writing to myself here.) When you rise early, you have an opportunity to get ahead of the day and get on top of your work before it gets on top of you. Rise (earlier than you need to) and make sure that everything needed for the day is prepared. Take time to prepare your heart by spending time in prayer and Scripture. Look over your planner or to-do list and ensure that you’re prepared and ready to go. Then take a minute to breathe and drink some coffee.
3. DRESS WELL, BUT MAKE SURE YOU’RE LOOKING AT THE INSIDE
She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. – Proverbs 31:17, ESV
Can we just take a minute to appreciate that, even back in the days of King Lemuel, women were concerned about dressing well? This makes my heart quite happy. Don’t think that what you’re wearing is meaningless, dress well (Proverbs 31:22) but keep focused on what really matters—the strength you have in our mighty God. Women of God, adorn strength.
As you walk into the world, let this be what catches people’s eyes.
4. KNOW WHAT WORK IS VALUABLE AND FOCUS ON THAT
She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. – Proverbs 31:18, ESV
Often, I get caught up in work that has little or no value because it seems like the work I should be doing. A friend recently told me that she knew someone who needed to spend more time with her children but was overwhelmed with laundry. Her solution? She hired someone to come do her laundry so she could focus on what really mattered.
In our work and in our homes, let’s focus on the work that is productive, by whatever goals we have set (familial, spiritual, financial, etc.) and focus on that work. Let us not burden ourselves with work that does not fit the priorities God has given us and instead, work hard at the tasks He has placed before us.
5. BE WILLING TO DO THE HARD WORK
She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. – Proverbs 31:19, ESV
As Christian women, we need to get beyond the idea that hard work is beneath us and embrace the difficult tasks. Both Amy Carmichael and Mother Teresa ministered greatly to others through their willingness to do manual labor that was deemed below them. Through their humility, eyes were opened to the humble heart of Christ. Likewise, we need to be willing to do work, even when it’s hard and unflattering, when it is what we are called to do.
6. KEEP THOSE IN NEED ALWAYS IN MIND AND PRACTICE
She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. – Proverbs 31:20, ESV
Both in our ethics in the workplace and how we conduct our lives, we need to prioritize opening our hands to those in need. Scripture emphasizes helping the poor and needy over and over again but yet, we live as if we are excluded from that due to extenuating circumstances (either ours or theirs). If we are to be God-honoring in our work, supporting the poor through ethical business practices must be central. As Christians, we need to make this a foundational principle not only for how we make decisions, but also how we spend our time and money.
7. LEARN FROM YOUR EXPERIENCE BUT ALWAYS STAY HUMBLE
She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. – Proverbs 31:26, ESV
Especially as we grow older and gain experience, it is easy to look down on those below us. But the Proverbs 31 woman doesn’t do this. Instead of sarcasm and contempt, she shares her wisdom with others and fills her mouth with kindness. Especially as women, it is easy for us to feel like we must force our way into conversations. But this isn’t how Christian women should present themselves. While we should not let others walk all over us, we need to be careful in how we open our mouths. We need to regularly ask ourselves, “Am I opening my mouth to share wisdom and is my speech marked by kindness?” If you can’t answer yes, it is time to reevaluate your speech.
8. DON’T NEGLECT YOUR HOME
She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. – Proverbs 31:27, ESV
As we busy ourselves with the work God has given us, we cannot neglect our homes. While I’m all for dividing up chores and hiring out services (if that’s in your budget), we need to be working towards lives of balances so that both our work and homes are well looked after. This means reading, searching Pinterest, and talking with friends to find out what habits help them balance their various demands. It might mean setting a few habits into place to keep your work from piling up and becoming overwhelming.
For me, this means running the dishwasher before bed every night and unloading the dishwasher before I drink my morning coffee so that it’s easy to rinse dishes and put them in throughout the day. For a friend of mine, this means starting a small load of laundry every night of whatever is dirty from that day (she washes everything together on cold) and drying and folding it first thing so her laundry situation doesn’t get out of hand. Find out what you can do to keep your work at home from becoming overwhelming and implement it!
9. INVOLVE YOUR FAMILY
Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” – Proverbs 31:28-29, ESV
One of my favorite parts of the Proverbs 31 women is that her family recognizes all that she does. But for me? Often I feel unrecognized and unseen. While I this is partially because I need to focus on serving, not for the reward of recognition, but out of love for those I’m serving, it’s also partially because I isolate myself. I don’t think the Proverbs 31 woman did this. I think in her work, she spoke with her family about what she was doing and valued their opinion. She’s inspired me to both serve out of love but also to trust that God has gifted my family in unique was to support me (and for me to support them) and we need to be exercising that mutual support to work as God designed.
10. KNOW WHERE YOUR VALUE LIES
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates. – Proverbs 31:30-31, ESV
Ultimately, we remember the Proverbs 31 woman in Chrsitian circles because of her fear of the Lord. She knows that is where her lasting values lie. So too, we must place our value in the Lord and not in temporary things. Whether it’s beauty, charm, or your latest promotion, you need to recognize these things will eventually all fade away. Work hard, as if working for the Lord, but know that your value lies, not in your labors, but in the completed work of Christ on the cross.
Both lady wisdom and the noble woman:
- Fear the Lord (Prov. 1:7; 31:30)
- Are difficult to find but are incomparable in worth (Prov. 3:13-15; 31:10,29)
- Build a house and care for their servants (Prov. 9:1-6; 31:10,29)
- Feed the hungry and care for the poor (Prov. 3:16-17; 19:17; 31:19-20)
Solomon clearly intends these opening and closing portions of Proverbs to provide a composite picture of wisdom. But it is notable that Solomon concludes his wisdom book with an elaborate A-Z acrostic description of wisdom in action — specifically, conducting business in the marketplace.
Lady Wisdom is a valiant entrepreneur.
We can better understand Solomon’s noble woman if we realize that the word translated as ‘household’ is oikos (Prov. 31:21,27). The reference is not to the domestic nuclear family with which we are familiar. Rather, it principally refers to the basic unit of economic activity in the ancient world. Abraham, with all his servants, animals, and other forms of wealth, was head of an oikos. So was Job. In our modern parlance, therefore, oikos is better understood as a family business venture, not a domestic family unit.
Which makes it much less surprising, then, that Proverbs 31 mentions this noble woman’s children only once, her husband just three times. The entirety of the other verses are dedicated to her commercial activities. Which means Solomon intentionally personified wisdom as a particular sort of woman — one who is active in the public square, and pointedly successful in business and the marketplace.
Notably, though, she is not accumulating wealth for the purpose of selfish gain. Instead, all those with whom she deals — her immediate family, her servants (workers), and the poor and needy — are blessed through her profits and her generosity.
So let’s take a closer look at this exceptional woman, paying particular attention to her business activities, her business orientations, and her business outcomes.
Activities
The activities of the noble woman can largely be described as those characteristic of an excellent global supply chain. We see that:
- v. 13 She seeks wool and flax and works with willing hands.
- v. 14 She is like the ships of the merchant, she brings her food from far away.
- v. 15 She rises while it is still night and provides food for her household and tasks for her servants.
- v. 16 She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
- v. 18 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night.
- v. 21 She is not afraid for her household when it snows, for all her household are clothed in crimson.
- v. 24 She makes linen garments and sells them; she supplies the merchants with sashes.
In action, she operates a global supply chain. She buys raw materials (wool, flax, food, seed) and real estate (fields) and then transforms these raw materials into products. She produces food for her family and employees. As well, she makes linen garments and sashes for merchants who, perhaps traveling from nearby nations of Assyria and Egypt, purchase her products in the marketplace.
As she builds her business, she expands by buying land and planting vineyards with the profits from her textile/clothing trade (v16). She is skilled in accounting and knows that her merchandise is profitable (v18). In fact, we are told repeatedly that all her work is profitable. In verse 21, she has a plan for seasonality, so her whole enterprise is prepared for winter seasons. Finally, we see in verse 20 that she can open her hands to the poor and needy with the surplus of her products and profitability.
Orientations
These various activities are not a hodgepodge of good business practices. Rather, they spring from particular business orientations. Reading more deeply, we see that this wise business woman is focused on sustainability, on quality, on stakeholders, on the entirety of her supply chain, and on the long-term. Not surprisingly, these are the same business orientations that characterize the most successful contemporary corporations.
Outcomes
Taken as a whole, Proverbs 31 teaches that the noble woman’s wisdom-infused business activities, and business orientations, all lead to the same outcome — blessing. Her husband, children, and employees are all blessed with material abundance. Her oikos has a reputation for excellence and expanding influence. Her buyers clearly prize her products, likely traveling considerable distances to make their purchases. Implicitly, she does business relationally, not transactionally — the continuing expansion of her business venture(s) over time suggests that both suppliers and customers want to do business with her repeatedly. And, as noted previously, her business success also blesses the poor.
Even on its own, Solomon’s choice to set wisdom’s blessings in a business context would be notable. It takes on even greater significance, though, in light of another Old Testament passage, Deuteronomy 8:17-18. Here Moses tells us two striking things about the ability to create wealth:
- It is a divine gift. And since business is the sole arena of human activity that enlarges wealth, this means business itself is a divine gift.
- It is intended as a confirmation of our covenantal relationship with God, the shorthand for which is ‘blessed to be a blessing.’
Which means the noble woman of Proverbs 31 is not just a woman of exceptional wisdom and skill — she is something much more. In the way her business venture blesses everyone it touches, she embodies God’s covenantal ‘blessed to be a blessing’ intention for all of us. Would that many more business people, and their investor partners, took a similar approach.
e diligent and not lazy
Throughout Proverbs, we see the importance of hard work emphasized. We are taught that we need to be diligent in our endeavors.
The word diligent is defined as “having or showing care and conscientiousness in one’s work or duties.”
Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.
Proverbs 10:4
She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Proverbs 31:27
These two verses from Proverbs teaches us that we need to care about the work we are doing. Through our diligent work, we are to love our coworkers, and customers by doing our work well. Not only that, but our hard work will also provide success to our businesses.
We must not be lazy either. In Proverbs 31, we learn about the wife of noble character. In verse 27, we read that she did “not eat the bread of idleness.” She was keen on the fact that laziness does not provide results. It is crucial to watch over the affairs of our work to see that they are profitable.
2) Practice humility
Humility is one of the leading characteristics taught in the Bible. As Christians, we are instructed to be humble in our daily lives, and this includes our work.
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 16:18
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.
Proverbs 11:2
Humility causes us to listen to others, to hear their concerns, and to address their problems. Whether those people are our clients or our coworkers.
Letting your pride overcome you will not get you anywhere and will eventually lead to disgrace and destruction of your business.
If you make a mistake, own up to it. Make it right so that others don’t suffer from your mistakes. Practicing humility means having wisdom. So let us become humble and take this Biblical business principle to heart.
3) Be a go-giver and not a go-getter
Society tells us to hustle and you will get everything you deserve. The Bible teaches us to be generous and give to those around you and you will be rewarded for your generosity.
A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.
Proverbs 11:25
We honor God with our money when we give without expecting anything in return. Don’t always try to take. Stop asking, “What’s in it for me?” Rather, examine how you can go above and beyond to help those around you.
Offer great products or services, and charge a reasonable price for it. Be an asset to those you work alongside rather than a burden. Give more than you expect to get, and it will be given back to you ten-fold.
To learn more about being a go-giver, I highly suggest the book The Go-Giver!
Related: My Favorite Verses on Giving
4) Make money honestly
Throughout the Bible we see so many examples of how to handle our money biblically, and there are a large handful of Proverbs that tell us how to make money as an entrepreneur as well.
Do not cheat, lie to, or scam people out of their money. Build up your business little by little.
Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice. Proverbs 16:8
Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.
Proverbs 13:11
In fact, God would rather you have little success in business, but remain faithful to him the whole time, than to have you cut corners to make great revenue.
It may be difficult to watch other companies out there cheat the system and be rewarded with monetary success. But do not forget that the Lord will be the one to judge everyone accordingly. Our success comes from our faithfulness to God here on earth.
We need to trust that if we continue to remain faithful through our business practices he will provide for us.
I love the way that Jordan Raynor puts it in his book Called to Create: “Trusting is the difficult yet simple act of recognizing that we are not responsible for producing results through our work—God is.”
Related: Over 100 Bible Verses About Money
5. Be bold
Becoming an entrepreneur and starting a business is already a grand endeavor. God not only wants us to be bold in our faith but in all areas of our lives. This includes our businesses.
The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.
Proverbs 28:1
Our boldness shows that we trust God in our work. And, we continue to trust him even if we come across failures. As believers, we have the reassurance that when we take a leap of faith and fail, God will catch us and put us right back on our feet.
In business, boldness can mean creating a new product. It may mean providing the greatest customer service anyone has experienced. We can also be bold in the way that we talk about God to others. We can use our business as a mission field. It can mean overcoming fears and obstacles as we grow our businesses.
Related: Books for Christian Entrepreneurs
Biblical Business Principles for Success
According to Jeremiah 29:11, God wants us to prosper. He wants to see us succeed and achieve our goals.
Business discipline sets goals and moves forward by faith.
“And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).
Fiscal responsibility is an important success factor for business discipline. Wisdom projects and manages cash flow in a way which provides capital to support ongoing innovation and is also prepared for an unexpected economic downturn. Staying on or under budget allows a firm to share its profits with the people responsible for its success. Also, fiscal responsibility as a business discipline gives back to the community. God entrusts His abundance to a generous company.
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