Judge Not the Lord by Feeble Sense [Family Worship lesson in Ecclesiastes 9:1–6]

How should we live, since we are subject to the providence of God? Ecclesiastes 9:1–6 prepares us for the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that, under the providence of God, we should live as those who remember that we must be right with Him before we die. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: the devotional draws from Ecclesiastes 9:1–6 to emphasize that, in God’s sovereign providence, all people—righteous and wicked alike—face the same ultimate fate: death. It warns against judging others’ spiritual standing based on their circumstances, whether prosperity or suffering, as such judgments misread God’s purposes, and reflect human folly. The central truth is that, while the living know they will die, and thus must live with urgent purpose, the dead know nothing and have no further opportunity for repentance or reward. Therefore, believers are called to live with constant awareness of mortality, not in despair, but in faithful service to God through Christ, Who alone provides righteousness and hope beyond death. The living, even in their weakness, are to be esteemed above the dead, because they still have the chance to turn to God, making every moment an opportunity for grace and repentance.

2025.12.04 Hopewell @Home ▫ Ecclesiastes 9:1–6

Read Ecclesiastes 9:1–6

Questions from the Scripture text: In where did Solomon consider these things (v1)? Why? In Whose hands are who and what? What can’t people know, from what? What differences do not determine one’s providence (v2)? What seems evil (v3)? What is the spiritual condition of men? For whom is there still hope (v4)? By what illustration does he make this point? What do the living know (v5a)? Who does not know this (v5b)? What other interactions with this world do they no longer have (v5c–6)?

How should we live, since we are subject to the providence of God? Ecclesiastes 9:1–6 prepares us for the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that under the providence of God, we should live as those who remember that we must be right with Him before we die. 

In the previous portion (8:16–17), we noted the humility that we need since man is unable to tell the work of God. And now in v1–6, we see how to live in light of the fact that God rules over all things in sovereign providence: work while you're alive (cf. Jn 9:4). Serve the Lord.

In v1, he warns against trying to interpret things by providence: “People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them.” One of the great mistakes of Job's friends was that they concluded, from the trials that Job was going through, that God was against him. They couldn't have been more wrong. God was more pleased with Job than He was with anyone else on the earth. And although Job was going through much affliction, the Lord was doing Job great good through that affliction, even through Satan's most fierce enmity against Job.

Do not conclude from ease that one is favored by God, or from affliction that one is opposed by God. You know neither love nor hatred by what you see before you.

The biggest example of this is death; the wicked ultimately die; the righteous also ultimately die (v2). So, do not conclude, from someone's death, that he must have been worse than other people. The best example of this, perhaps, is Jesus’s answers in Luk 13:1–5.

So, on the one hand, man thinks that it is an “evil” thing, that one thing happens to all (v3a). It seems to him like it's not fair. How come these wicked people die, but these righteous people die just like the wicked people died? And part of the answer is there are no righteous people: “the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil (v3b). Madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that, they go to the dead (v3c). So every living person in this world has folly in his heart, and the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil. We all deserve death.

Is there a difference between the godly and the ungodly? There is, and Solomon has covered that on a number of occasions already in the book of Ecclesiastes. There's a difference in what comes of them, and there's a difference in how they live. The difference in how they live is that they remember their Creator. They receive everything as a gift from Him and an assignment from Him. They do everything as a service to Him. But they go through affliction just as much, often more, than the wicked go through affliction. And they may die. They may die early. They may die in a very painful and horrific way. And you should not conclude that they are somehow less favored by God or less godly or less clean or less properly religious or less moral because of the manner in which they die. That's a superstition that belongs to people who don't understand that we are sinners, and that the wages of sin is death, and that what differentiates is in the heart, and in the mind, in one's relationship with the Lord.

For him who is joined to all the living, there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion (v4). What does that mean? Well, that means that as long as someone has not yet died, he can still repent. While there's life, there's hope. 

So instead of thinking judgmentally about people because of what's happening to them, remember that it is a mercy that God has not yet killed them. God may yet bring them to repentance. So pray for their repentance, plead with them for their repentance. And do what you can to bring them under the means of grace, because the only hope of their repentance is the God of grace, and the grace of that God. And so, whatever condition they're actually in, the desire is that they would come to repentance before they die because it is appointed to man to die once and after that, the judgment. There's no more repenting, no more serving God, no more doing others good in this world once you die (v5).

Each one of us must grapple with the fact, must deal with the fact that we will die, we will leave this world. While you are alive, you have the opportunity to respond rightly to that. Become right with God through faith in Jesus Christ, Whose righteousness alone can be our righteousness with God, Whose sacrifice alone can take away our sin so that our death will not be a penalty for our sin, but the means by which God delivers him from all the evils, all the harms, all the pain, the affliction that is in this world.

The living know that they will die. Sadly, there are a lot of people who live as if they don't realize that they're going to die. They don't seek the Lord Jesus Christ, and His righteousness, and His sacrifice, that they may be right with God. For many, walking with God, doesn't matter to them. But that's not how the living should live. The living should live as those who know that they will die and live in light of the day of their death.

The dead know nothing. They have no more reward. Memory of them is forgotten (v5). Their love, hatred, envy have now perished; never more will they have a share in anything done under the sun (v6). The dead do not contemplate what they are going to do; they are done doing. But how dreadful that there are so many who are alive, but still do not contemplate what they are going to do.

And so we must live as those who do not presume to know from affliction, or the lack of it, what one's condition is with God. But we must live as those who deal with God directly—especially in and through our Lord Jesus Christ—not drawing conclusions about ourselves or about others based upon what happens to us.

How often do you meditate upon your upcoming death? How are you living in response to that? What changes do you think you should make?

Sample prayer:  Sample prayer:  Father, we pray that You would give us to live conscientiously aware of You, and of the shortness of our life, and the certainty of death. Give us, then, to live by faith in Christ, through Whom we ask it. Amen!

Suggested songs: ARP23B “The Lord’s My Shepherd” or TPH131B “Not Haughty Is My Heart”

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A Pure and Holy People [Family Worship lesson in Deuteronomy 22:13–23:14]

How is marriage to be honored? Deuteronomy 22:13–23:14 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these thirty-two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that marriage is to be honored by guarding the purity of the marriages of men, and also by safeguarding the purity of the church as betrothed unto God. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: This passage applies the seventh commandment, 'You shall not commit adultery,' to both individual marriages and the collective holiness of Israel as God’s betrothed people. It establishes a legal framework that protects the sanctity of marriage by safeguarding a woman’s virginity, punishing false accusations with severe penalties, and ensuring justice. The laws distinguish between cases of guilt and innocence, emphasizing the importance of public accountability, and the protection of vulnerable women, especially in contexts where help was unavailable. Beyond individual morality, the passage extends this principle to the spiritual life of the nation, requiring ritual purity in the camp—such as the exclusion of eunuchs, illegitimate births, etc.—because God dwells among His people. Ultimately, the law calls the people to reflect the purity of their covenant God, mirroring the sacred union between Christ and His church, and to live in a way that honors both marital fidelity and divine consecration.

2025.12.03 Hopewell @Home ▫ Deuteronomy 22:13–23:14

Read Deuteronomy 22:13–23:14

Questions from the Scripture text: What is the situation in v13–21? What procedure are they to follow, and what penalties are to be inflicted in what cases? What situations do v22–29 address, and what is to be done in what cases? What sorts of things could defile Israel in the presence of God (22:30–23:13)? Why is this so serious (v14)?

How is marriage to be honored? Deuteronomy 22:13–23:14 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these thirty-two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that marriage is to be honored by guarding the purity of the marriages of men, and also by safeguarding the purity of the church as betrothed unto God.  

This section is the application of the seventh commandment (“thou shalt not commit adultery”) to the life of the nation of Israel. And while the other nine commandments in the book of Deuteronomy are quite obvious in the exposition and application of that particular commandment, the second half of our portion, particularly on the holiness and cleanliness of the campsite, doesn't seem to fit in the eyes of many. But those many are missing the theme, throughout the Bible, of God's visible church being a people who are betrothed to him, and the necessity of their purity in order to be appropriately betrothed to the Lord.

So, 22:13–23:14 covers the application of the seventh commandment in two different ways: one, in the particular marriages of the nation of Israel, when they are in the land (22:13–29); and the other, in the purity and cleanliness of Israel as a bride to the Lord, her Husband, Who loves her and Who is holy, and makes a dwelling for them together (22:30–23:14).

So in the first part, the purity of the marriage is to be protected in various ways. One is that virginity is to be highly prized. A woman is not to know a man the way a wife knows a husband, except for when they are married. And it was part of the tradition of Israel, as mandated by this passage, that evidence of the virginity be kept by the parents of the bride. Sinful men would accuse their new wife, to get out of the marriage. If it turns out to be false (v13–19), then the man who ought to have forfeited his life by accusing her of a capital crime, would not be permitted to leave her a widow of damaged goods. Instead, he receives three penalties.  First, he is to be beaten (v18, where the word means corporal, physical, bodily punishment). Second, he has to give 100 shekels of silver to the father of the young woman, twice the bride price, making it triple altogether. And third, he has to be her husband, and is not permitted to divorce her all of his days (Ex 22:16–17 clarifies that the extra bride price may be paid, and the father of the bride may refuse the arrangement, if he believes it's better for his daughter to be a daughter in his own house than a wife in the man's house).

So, a husband would be highly incentivized to seek God's grace to condition his heart, to delight himself in his wife, so that he would not even entertain thoughts of devious ways of trying to get out of his marriage. The way that the procedure and the penalties and everything was ordered, in Israel, taught them to respect the marriage and honor the marriage bed (cf. Heb 13:4).

Now it was possible that a man actually finds that his new wife was not pure. In that case, she has forfeited her life by committing a capital crime (v21), which was also the penalty for adultery, in which case both who commit it would be executed (v22). 

Then, we have another cycle of three cases (v23–29). The first one The case of a woman who is guilty and a man who is guilty. The second one, the case of a woman who is innocent, and a man who is guilty. And then the third, a woman who is innocent and a man who is guilty. So we have six total cases being presented here. The fourth and fifth case are both with the respect to a woman who is betrothed to one man, and the other man tries to seize her for himself. It's related to the sixth case, because the sixth case is a woman who is not betrothed at all, and a man who seizes her does have the possibility of obtaining her as a wife, depending upon whether or not the father is willing (v28–29).

For the betrothed woman (v23–24), if it happened in the city, she is expected to cry out. Again, this is an expectation, a principle in their culture. For the guarding of their marriage, the women are to be trained that if a man attempts to seduce them, that they cry out. So if she doesn't cry out (v23–24), then the two of them both are stoned to death with stones. If it happens out in the field, where there's no one to hear her, she is presumed to be innocent. This statute would also hinder those who attempted to sneak away together. The man, in that case, would know that his life is on the line. If they are found out, it's going to be assumed that the woman was innocent, because no one could hear her cry out. And he will be executed, but she will not. And so that would be a disincentive to a guy to try and sneak away with a girl where no one could hear them. This would help prevent sexual immorality in both cases.

So what may seem just to be lists of various cases and penalties, is actually a system that conveys the importance of marriage, the importance of faithfulness of the husband to the wife, and guards the interests of the betrothed woman and the married woman—in a way that other cultures at the time did not guard the interests of the wife or of the woman. Israel had righteous laws that distinguished them from other peoples (cf. 4:7–8).

In 22:30–23:14, the issue is not “putting away the evil from among you,” as it was in the first half of the passage (v21, 24), The issue here is keeping the camp holy because the Lord has made the camp holy (v14). So there are some samples or examples from the ceremonial law given here for the maintaining of the holiness of the camp and the holiness of the assembly. And these particular examples all have to do also with the purity of the marriage bed and purity in matters of sexuality. So, if a man has been made a eunuch (v1), he cannot enter the assembly. And then those of illegitimate birth (v2). And then on of severe illegitimacy (Ammonite or Moabite), not even to the 10th generation, because of how they had treated the people of God when they came out of Egypt (v3–6). Or an Edomite or an Egyptian to the third generation (v7–8), although there was special consideration for them both because of the nearness of relation between Jacob and Esau, who were brothers, twin brothers, and because Egypt was used by God to preserve Israel in the case of famine. and to provide for Israel.

But then even a man who had something happen during the night while he was sleeping that made him unclean—he would be unclean for a day (v9–11). Or even the question of how they would deal with when they went potty, and covering that up with dirt and keeping it clean (v12–13). All of these things were for the keeping of the camp pure, because Israel was betrothed as holy unto YHWH and he had brought them to himself to dwell with him and he with them (v14).

And so in some very detailed, specific, physical ways, they were to guard both the marriages of men and also the union of God with his people—prizing and pursuing purity in both of those circumstances. So we too are to guard our marriages, each of us. And then also, members of His church are to remember that they are consecrated as the betrothed of the Lord.

There's an overlap in applying the seventh commandment corporately as the bride of Christ with the third commandment (bearing the Name of God weightily and reverently upon our lips, and upon our lives). First, because He has put His Name upon us and therefore we are not to bear His Name lightly. And second, because we are betrothed to Him as the visible church. And so we are consecrated, and we are to be a holy people for that reason as well.

So may the Lord give us to live lives of purity within our marriage, and lives of consecration unto Him in our life as those who are members of the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

What are you doing to guard your, and others’, marriages? How are you specifically resisting the view of marriage in the culture (and church culture) around you? How are you helping to keep your church pure, and consecrated unto the Lord?

Sample prayer:  Father, we thank You for speaking to us plainly, for teaching us to prize and value our own marriage, each of us, and to prize and value the betrothal of the church unto Your Son, our Lord Jesus. And we pray that You would give us to live pure, chaste lives. Help us, we pray, in an age of sexual immorality—in which people think it's no big deal to sin violently against these commandments that you had required to be punished by death. Give us to have our hearts and minds to be in line with Yours in Your Word, and not to be in line with the heart and mind of the culture. For we ask it in Jesus's Name, Amen!

Suggested songs: ARP15 “Within Your Tent, Who Will Reside” or TPH174 “The Ten Commandments”

The Beloved Who Beautifies [Family Worship lesson in Song of Songs 1:16–17]

How does the Bride respond to the Bridegroom's praise? Song of Songs 1:16–17 prepares us for the evening sermon on the coming Lord's Day. In these two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Bride responds to the Bridegroom's praise by praising both Him and her fellowship with Him.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2025.12.02 Hopewell @Home ▫ Song of Songs 1:16–17

Read Song of Songs 1:16–17

Questions from the Scripture text: How does she introduce her exclamation (Song of Songs 1:16a)? What does she exclaim about Him? What does she call Him? What else does she exclaim about Him (verse 16b)? What else does she describe (verse 16c)? As what color? What else does she describe (Song of Songs 1:17a)? As of what wood? And what else (verse 17b)? As of what wood (verse 17c)?

How does the Bride respond to the Bridegroom’s praise? Song of Songs 1:16–17 prepares us for the opening portion of the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Bride responds to the Bridegroom’s praise by praising both Him and her fellowship with Him. 

In Song of Songs 1:16, the word that's being translated ‘handsome’ is the masculine form of the word ‘fair’ in Song of Songs 1:15. And what we have is the response of the church to Christ. Whenever He praises the beauty that he has attributed to us, the beauty that He has worked in us, the beauty that He sees in us (verse 15), we immediately want to throw it back onto Him—because any beauty that is in us is from Him. The beauty is natively, rightly, properly His. The beauty is only ours derivatively. It's ours as a gift, but it's His by virtue of Who He is and what He is like in Himself. He is inherently beautiful.

It's this way and should be this way with believers: that, in any good thing, as soon as we receive any commendation, or possess any good thing, or any praise whatsoever, we would always want to turn it, immediately, to the praise of the Lord Jesus. 

He never finds us more lovely (Song of Songs 1:15), or make us more lovely, than when we are expressing our love to Him (Song of Songs 1:12-14). Never do we perceive the loveliness of Christ (Song of Songs 1:16-17) so much as when He is displaying His love to us (Song of Songs 1:15).

The riches of the glories of Jesus (Song of Songs 1:16) are known especially when He is saying, “Behold, you are fair, my love, behold, you are fair” (Song of Songs 1:15). And the church ought to respond, recognizing that whatever good is in us is rightly and properly from Him, and rightly and properly to His praise.

He had commanded, “behold.” She responds, “behold,” not as a command, but as a form of obedience—as if to say, “yes, behold; I'm looking, and this is what I see; I see your beauty. Any beauty that might be in me has come from you.”

The beloved is the origin of His bride’s beauty. And His beauty is of a different quality, a different character. So she hurries to add the word, “pleasant” (Song of Songs 1:16b)—a second word that means a similar thing, with more emphasis on the experience of beauty, rather than the content of beauty. He is beautiful in Himself, and beautiful to enjoy.

By calling her “My love” (Song of Songs 1:15), He gave to her to find her identity in Him, and to know Him especially in his union with her. So now, she responds, “my Beloved” (Song of Songs 1:16). Again, she's recognizing that it is in union with Him, and in shared life (communion) with Him, that she has whatever beauty she has. He is the One Whose beauty is ultimate (verse 16a–b). He is the One Who is ultimately pleasant. And she has come to be beautiful (“fair,” Song of Songs 1:15), only because she has been united to Him, Whom she knows now as her Beloved.

But it isn’t just He Whom she experiences as beautiful. Her shared life with Him beautifies everything else that she is experiences (Song of Songs 1:16-17). Notice the shared life: not “Your bed,” but “our bed”; not “Your houses,” but “our houses.” She is experiencing her life as something in which she has a joint interest and experience with the Lord Jesus (cf. Romans 8:17).

And so, the church’s experience of the most comfort and intimacy with Christ (“our bed,” Song of Songs 1:16c) is given a color of refreshment and life and fruitfulness (“green”). And the structure and order which He has erected for their life together (“the beams of our houses,” Song of Songs 1:17a; and, “our rafters,” verse 17b) are given a substance of strength and beauty and endurance (“cedar” and “fir”). And there is certainly some allusion to the cedar of the temple that Solomon himself had built, where the Lord made a life for His people with Himself, by provision of priesthood, sacrifices, etc.

But the house of God is not ultimately the structure that Solomon built out of cedar. That house itself—by use of cedar, by use of gold, by use of the great stones that were used in it—looked forward to the life of God with His people, in His ordinances, as they would ultimately be experienced in Christ: Christ leading our worship, Christ drawing us near to God, Christ addressing us with God's word, Christ consecrating us as our high priest. And He has furnished for us those ordained servants by whom He Himself leads us before God. The structure that He has provided should be strong, enduring, beautiful and sweet to us, as cedar and fir are. 

And so as the bride responds with her praise of His beauty, she is also responding with praise of intimacy with Him, and of the provision that he has made for the house.

Finally, this word rafters, refers to a covered walk, a third concentric circle, out from the bedroom and the household. The first is very intimate. Then there's the household, which is the life with Him which He provides. But then there's also these rafters, some sort of structure in which to walk. And so, even in her going out to do business, or daily life, or whatever she's going out to do, she still has that fellowship with Him that goes wherever she goes. 

As you do, in your, life all the things that you go to do, you go accompanied by, bordered by, the fellowship that you have with Him. His beauty, His pleasantness, fills the whole of the life of the church, the whole of the life of the Christian. May God give you to have this experience of Christ.

How are you enjoying Christ? How are you enjoying times of intimacy with Him? How are you enjoying the structure that He has provided for drawing near to Him? How are you enjoying fellowship with Him, even as you go out into the rest of your life?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we thank You for this song. We thank You for the poetry of it. We thank You most of all for the reality that this poetry is being employed to describe. Give us, we pray, to have a life, not only of intimate moments with You, but then, in your church, and in our engagement even in the world, that it would always flow from, and be accompanied by, the fellowship that we have with our Lord Jesus. For we ask it in His Name, Amen!

Suggested songs: ARP73C “Yet Constantly, I Am with You” or TPH425 “How Sweet and Awesome Is the Place”

Wise vs Foolish Households [Family Worship lesson in Proverbs 19:13–15]

What can destroy a household? Proverbs 19:13–15 looks forward to the midweek sermon. In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that a household may be destroyed by any one of its members being a fool. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: The devotional meditates upon the sacred architecture of the household, emphasizing that godly wisdom and character are essential to its stability and flourishing. Central to this vision is the contrast between the ruin caused by a foolish son, a contentious wife, or a lazy individual, as opposed to the divine blessing of a prudent wife, whose wisdom is not merely human achievement but a gift from YHWH. The text underscores that while material inheritance comes from fathers, true spiritual and relational wealth—especially in marriage and parenting—are special displays of God’s sovereign grace in the cultivation of godly character. It calls for diligent, joyful labor as an act of worship, rejecting laziness not only as personal failure but as a corrosive force that undermines the entire household. Ultimately, the devotional affirms that the health of the family rests not on human effort alone, but on divine provision: grace, and the faithful application of biblical wisdom in every relationship and responsibility.

2025.11.24 Hopewell @Home ▫ Proverbs 19:13–15

Read Proverbs 19:13–15

Questions from the Scripture text: What sort of son does Proverbs 19:13a reference? What effect does he have? What sort of wife does verse 13b reference? To what does it compare her behavior? What does a good father provide (Proverbs 19:14a)? What is an area in which God especially highlights His sovereign providence (verse 14b)? What fault does what harm (Proverbs 19:15)?

What can destroy a household? Proverbs 19:13–15 looks forward to the midweek sermon. In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that a household may be destroyed by any one of its members being a fool.  

Proverbs 18:1–19:12 dealt with the harm done to others by fools, and the benefits to others of the wise. Now, Proverbs 19:13–15 compares and contrasts the household in which the father and the son and the wife are all godly and wise, against the harm that comes when the son or the wife or the father are foolish. A foolish father does not need his son to ruin him; he has ruined himself. 

So the foolish son is a ruin of his father in a couple of different ways. First, houses and riches are an inheritance from fathers (Proverbs 19:14a). So, even if the father does well early in life, he needs his son to take care of him as he declines. If the son is a fool, his latter years will be a ruin. Even if he did well in his youth and adulthood, if his son is a fool, then his life on earth ends in ruin. Furthermore, what he leaves behind also gets ruined by the foolish son. So, not only does he not have the one to take care of him in comfort and peace and joy in the final years of his life, but he also dies knowing that what he has built is about to be destroyed by the son that he has left behind. It is a dreadful thing to have a foolish son.

Another way that a good man can be ruined is by having a wife who does not follow the first two-thirds of chapter 18. Her mouth is always arguing and criticizing and nagging and gossiping and grumbling. the contentions of a wife are a continual dripping. Now that doesn't sound like much to us because we do not have a roof that was constructed with wooden boards covered by a mesh of sticks, into which clay was put, and then a layer of chalk, and then a layer of mud above that. If we did have such a roof, and it started to rain, and it continued to rain, and it continued to rain, eventually the mud would dissipate, and rivulets would form through the chalk, and cracks would appear in the clay, and the sticks and the wood boards would get saturated, and then the whole house would cave in.

This is what a continually exercised, ungoverned tongue of a wife does. It slowly but surely erodes the strength of the household until one day the whole thing collapses. She is exactly opposite the woman in chapter 31 (who is such an asset that everything that the man builds is multiplied, enhanced, beautified, strengthened—made more of a blessing to him and to others by his wise wife, his godly and kind wife, on whose tongue is the law of kindness (cf. Proverbs 31:26).

The son can be the ruin of the father. The wife can be the ruin of the father. And the father can be the ruin of everyone. A good father provides an inheritance (Proverbs 19:14a) and seeks from God for his son that which multiplies the blessedness of everything else—the way we saw Abraham seeking a wife for Isaac from the right family (cf. Genesis 24:4); and Isaac, once he realized his dreadful mistake in trying to give Esau the blessing, sent Jacob with a blessing to get a wife from the right family (cf. Genesis 28:2).

It is good and proper that the planning and the work, the discretion, to obtain a good wife for your son be done by a godly father. But, like that of the opening and closing of the womb, the provision of a good wife is an area in which God especially highlights His sovereign providence. You can try to do everything right in obtaining a wife, but if she is going to end up actually being a godly wife, who actually strengthens and multiplies and beautifies and improves the moral quality of the household, that has to come from God. A prudent wife is from YHWH. A wife who embodies everything that Proverbs has taught us to seek, so far up until this point, is from YHWH: both in the providence that places her nearby; and, in God's blessing on any planning/wisdom/efforts to obtain her; and, most of all, in the grace that made her what she is. A prudent wife can only be produced by grace. 

Proverbs 19:13a, Proverbs 19:14a aren't saying that the prudent wife comes from YHWH, but the godly husband is obtainable through following the right procedure, and the godly son is produced by the right sort of training. Properly biblical parenting employs especially the means of grace, precisely because we know that it is only God's grace that ultimately produces the godly son. Or obtains the godly husband. 

If any of these (husband, wife, son) are ungodly, it can destroy the house through laziness. A lazy person (Proverbs 19:15a) is, in some ways, more harmful than a dead person. Because if the person was dead, at least you knew in advance that you couldn't count on them to pull their weight in the household. But the lazy person appears to be part of the household, but is actually exerting a cost upon everyone else, in the way even a dead person wouldn't. Because God has put us into families together, an idle person very easily causes the rest of his household to suffer hunger (verse 15b) with him. He harms even generations to come. Laziness is a great folly. 

God revealed Himself to us as a God Who works, and He created us to be image bearers who work. Fearing the Lord means taking eating and drinking and enjoyments as gifts from God. And fearing the Lord means doing all of our labor, all the days of our life, with joy and diligence, also as a gift from God.

So, may God, by His grace, give each of us to fear the Lord in our own part in our current household. And, for the sake of our future households, may He mercifully bring to us those good wives and husbands, and may He bless our efforts and planning for the putting together of these future households.

How are you using your mouth to bless your household? How is your diligence blessing your household? Whom are you trusting to do this in you? How are you employing the means by which you trust Him to do that?

Sample prayer:  Father, please help us to use our mouths well. Make us diligent, and grant to us every part of biblical wisdom properly applied. We thank You for the family that You've given us. Work in, and help, each one of us, that we might be a blessing to everyone else in this household—and in our future households. We pray for the future husbands and wives of our daughters and sons, that you would be graciously working in them already. Glorify Yourself by blessing us this household, and the households that come from it, in every way. For we ask it through Christ. Amen!

Suggested songs: ARP184 “Adoration and Submission” or TPH95A “O Come before the LORD, Our King”

Identifying Kingdom Heirs [Family Worship lesson in Matthew 25:31–46]

How do you get ready for the Son of Man to come in His glory? Matthew 25:31–46 looks forward to the morning sermon in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these sixteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that you get ready for the Son of Man to come in His glory by grace-sustained adoration, affection, and action. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: This passage reveals that readiness for Christ’s return is rooted in divine election and sustained by a life of adoration, affection, and action toward fellow believers. The final judgment centers not on abstract moral performance but on how individuals have responded to Christ’s suffering through His mystical union with His people, making acts of mercy toward the vulnerable a reflection of worship and love for Him. True faith is marked by adoration of Christ as YHWH, which produces genuine affection for His redeemed, expressed in tangible acts of service. These actions are not a means of earning salvation, but a fruit of being predestined for the kingdom, and living by God’s grace.