Her Husband's Crown

Yesterday in my devotion time, I came across a couple of gems in Proverbs 21. In verse 9: "Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife." And in verse 19: "Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and nagging wife." And who better to know this than the guy who married 700 of them. I can't imagine they were in good moods all the time. So I doubt there were any roof corners left for King Solomon (the writer of Proverbs) to hide in on a daily basis. That desert surrounding the Holy Lands would have been his only sanctuary from quarrelsome wives. But it's true that no one wants a nagging or quarrelsome wife. Now we could flip this and talk about husbands, but saving that for tomorrow. This is for the ladies.

See, we woman can be naggers. When we want something done a certain way ... when something hasn't been completed in a timely fashion ... when we just want something. And that nagging is described later in Proverbs 27:15 as "like the dripping of a leaky roof in a rainstorm." And we know what damage that'll do.

You're going to quarrel. But the point is to not be described as such. We're talking about someone whose personality leans that way. Constantly bickering, nagging, picking, patronizing, being sarcastic or critical ... it's negative and unfair. And slowly chips away at the man we love and respect so much.

You can't be Pollyanna (perky and optimistic) all the time - that's unrealistic - but it's equally unrealistic to be negative Nelly all the time, too. So pay attention to your moods. Leave work at work. Work out stress through exercise. Get plenty of rest. And spend a good amount of time in the Word of God. Because that same Word tells husbands this in Proverbs 18:22: "He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord." And this in Proverbs 12:4: "A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown." 

Discussion: Do you catch yourself being quarrelsome or nagging? What causes it? How can you prevent it?

Prayer: Gracious Lord, we can sometimes let little things irritate us to a point were we become the irritation. I pray Father we remember to be kind and uplifting to our husbands and not a drippy, leaky roof, so that our husband won't seek a corner of it to live in. In Christ we pray, Amen.