She is always a blessing to her husband and by extension her household.

Proverbs 31:12 “She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.”

She is Love Incarnate

Like love, “she suffers long and is kind, does not behave herself unseemly, she is not self-seeking, thinks the best of others, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.” (See 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a.)

Included in doing good and not evil, is this woman’s ministry to her husband, and by that I mean her ministry in keeping her husband right. Husbands need that because they tend at times to be slope-headed Neanderthals. Men are stubborn. Men are brutish. God gives them wives to keep them straight for all those times they do not hear that still, small voice of the Holy Spirit. When big decisions need to be made, husbands would do well to hear their wives because often God will speak to men through their spouses (and vice versa). It is how God has ordained that relationship.

She is a Constant and Stable Influence

“All the days of her life,” means she is there for the long haul, through the good and the bad. The blessings don’t make her greedy for more, and the hard times don’t make her long for better. She is faithful no matter what.

Her goals and aspirations are in support of her husband – and her husband’s job is to faithfully love her in return. (God tells us husbands this twice: Ephesians 5:25 and Colossians 3:19. Why? Because of that whole slope-headed Neanderthal thing.)

Proverbs 31:13-15

(13)  She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.

(14)  She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar.

(15)  She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.

She is Industrious

She looks for opportunities. “She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.” That’s not to say that a woman’s work is limited to things like knitting and crocheting. The point is that this woman takes whatever talents she has and uses them for the benefit of her household. Maybe it’s not knitting, maybe it’s web design, or freelance programming, or writing, or brain surgery. Whatever the talent is, it’s being put to good use for the benefit of the family.

There’s nothing wrong with a career, but for both husband and wife, the career needs to be aimed at benefitting their God-given responsibilities to their family, not their ambitions for climbing the corporate ladder.

“She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar.” This verse is not just about food preparation. This is about how this woman is not about the status quo. She is creative. Imaginative. She is a real contributor to the home and family life.

“She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.” She is a good steward of all that she has, including her time and sees to it that her household is well taken care of.

What you don’t see here is a woman working under duress. Her husband is not holding her in abject servitude. In fact, as we’ll see later, she is a very independent woman. She does not see herself as shortchanged because she is a wife, and she is not oppressed, depressed, or distressed. She thrives in her role as wife, because she and her husband complement each other.