A VIRTUOUS WOMAN AND A FAITHFUL HUSBAND: THE ENDANGERED SPECIES PART 2.
THE MAKING OF THE VIRTUOUS WOMAN
The making of the virtuous woman can be likened to the making of the stones used in the building of Solomon’s Temple.
While the great, gorgeous and enviable Temple of Solomon was in the process of building, there was a silent but salient comment made about the pieces of stones used in its construction which everyone who desires a glorious marriage must ponder upon very well. The Scripture records that all the stones used in the building were all DRESSED at the quarry BEFORE they were transported to the building site to be part of the great Temple-the great House of the God of Israel. And because of this dressing before the building, there was no noise at the Temple site while it was in the making!
1 Kings 6:7
And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building. KJV
The stone blocks for the building of The Temple were all dressed at the quarry so that the building site itself was reverently quiet — no noise from hammers and chisels and other iron tools. THE MESSAGE
When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built. ESV
In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built. NIV
The stones used in the construction of the Temple were prefinished at the quarry, so the entire structure was built without the sound of hammer, axe, or any other tool at the building site. TLB
Solomon did not want the noise of hammers and axes to be heard at the place where the temple was being built. So he had the workers shape the blocks of stone at the quarry. CEV
The wedding ceremony is the beginning of the journey of building a married life. The builders are the husband and the wife who come together by their acts of volition in holy matrimony with a decision to be committed to the marriage covenant. And like the Temple of Solomon, if there will not be noise in the marriage, individual actors in the marriage union must have been made ready, fully dressed and finished upon for the home building. Otherwise, noise and shouts of trouble will be the daily experience of everyone in the marriage house. The present state of many homes is that fraught with the noise of fighting, lingering conflicts, sexual unfaithfulness, and different forms of marital abuse. This is basically due to the fact that many who rush into marriage today have little or no quarry experience. There was no place where such can say they were made before marriage. And some who had the privilege of being fully dressed at the quarry dropped out as they could not endure the cutting into sizes, beating into shapes, melting into another form; breaking, cracking, and other forms of quarry dealings. The temporary pain at the quarry site has clouded and blinded their sight of the enduring glory of making it to the Temple site.
Several young ladies today have arrogantly left their quarry of making which should have positioned them better in marriage because they felt such a place is a place of cruelty. Thus they entered marriage as half-baked cake or a meat, not well-cooked. They ventured into marriage ill-prepared and as not fully dressed for home building. And the resultant effect of this great omission is a house or home filled with noise; a home where there is constant misunderstanding, fighting, cheating, quarrelling and hatred. Any lady that is not fully dressed for marriage is a disaster going into marriage to happen.
No single stone that made it to the building site of Solomon’s great Temple was self-made. There was a making site; a dressing room; where every stone was prefinished before the great privilege of being part of the glorious Temple; it is called quarry. The quarry is the place where stones are broken, cut into pieces, beaten into shapes and sizes; made ready and transportable for building works on the project site. In like manner, there is no guy or lady who is self-made. No. in order to be fully dressed for marriage, there are people, places and circumstances divinely arranged for your marriage dressing.
The first point of call in your dressing is the home where you are born into. There is a popular saying that charity begins at home. The first set of values and pieces of training we have started from the home front. The home is the bedrock and seedbed of every training and making in life. It is the first place of quarry experience. I am aware, however, that not every home has much to offer. But no matter the situation of the home where you came from, there are one or two things to pick up as victuals for your own journey. There are things worth-emulating or not good to take after in the lives of your parents and siblings; there are virtues you will definitely pick up as victuals for your own journey from your family experience.
Apart from the family, Providence will also serve you the opportunities of meeting different people in the journey of life who have been appointed as the quarry of your making. These people could be your school teachers or lecturers, friends, roommates, church members, workmates, etc. Some of them could be nice as Naomi to Ruth; while some could as well be cruel as Saul was to David. Whichever way they come, both the sweet and the bitter are needed to make a life whole. Every relationship in your life has one lesson or the other to teach you: if doesn’t add value to your life, it will definitely teach you one lesson or the other. Shannon L. Alder says, “There are no coincidences in life. What person that wandered in and out of your life was there for some purpose, even if they caused you harm. Sometimes, it doesn’t make sense the short periods of time we get with people or the outcomes from their choices. However, if you turn it over to God he promises that you will see the big picture in the hereafter. Nothing is too small to be a mistake.” Even Satan himself also plays a part in our making for a better future.
Another form of the quarry is the life experiences. There are experiences and circumstances of life strategically designed to prepare you for your future. Some would be pleasant while some would be unpleasant; some would be joyful while some would be sorrowful. Whichever way they come, they are quarry experiences for the making and dressing of your life for a better, glorious future. In fact, the difficult experiences of life are the more needed. When they come, remember gold is refined in the fire; crude oil is refined and separated in the furnace of very high te
mperature. Life’s difficult situations are not meant to break us, but rather they are designed to make us to be fully dressed to perform better in life. Every difficult situation in life is designed to equip you to face and overcome other difficult situations of life. Don’t shy away from life experiences designed to make you better. Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him. Life’s ups and downs, wins and losses, heartaches and celebrations, provide a quarry platform for the shaping of our lives, beliefs and decisions. While each of our life experiences is so different, and no two lives are the same, we can learn a great deal about ourselves and grow into the person God wants us to be when we submit to the dealings embedded in these life experiences. The experiences of Joseph as he moved from the Pit to Potiphar’s house to the Prison are what culminated in dressing him to stand well in the palace of Egypt.
mperature. Life’s difficult situations are not meant to break us, but rather they are designed to make us to be fully dressed to perform better in life. Every difficult situation in life is designed to equip you to face and overcome other difficult situations of life. Don’t shy away from life experiences designed to make you better. Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him. Life’s ups and downs, wins and losses, heartaches and celebrations, provide a quarry platform for the shaping of our lives, beliefs and decisions. While each of our life experiences is so different, and no two lives are the same, we can learn a great deal about ourselves and grow into the person God wants us to be when we submit to the dealings embedded in these life experiences. The experiences of Joseph as he moved from the Pit to Potiphar’s house to the Prison are what culminated in dressing him to stand well in the palace of Egypt.
Above all, God’s Word is his comprehensive Equipment for changing lives. It is the most potent tool in the quarry of his making. Everything God has ever done and continues to do has been by the instrumentality of His Word. 2 Tim 3:16-17: “Every Scripture is God-breathed (given by His inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, [and] for training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God’s will in thought, purpose, and action), So that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.” AMP.
The Word is a Mirror. It constantly reveals and reminds you of Him who is the express Image of the Father and the brightness of His glory. The more you see God in His Word, the more you see your short-coming and the need to close-up on Him. “And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendour and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.”
The Word is a Cleansing Water. It cleanses us from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit; perfecting us in Christ-like characters. “…even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” (Eph. 6:25-26) “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. 3:16). The more we hear and obey, the more we get cleansed unto holiness, the longer we grow.
The Word is a Fire. “Is not my word like as a fire? Saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (Jer. 23:29). A fire has different effects, according to the substance is on which it works; it hardens clay, but softens wax; it consumes the dross, but purifies the gold. Like fire, the Word of God burns every chaff and dross of the self-life and purify us like silver is purified in the furnace for the use of the Master Jesus Christ. It is compared likewise to a hammer breaking the rock in pieces. The unhumbled heart of man is like a rock; if it will not be melted by the word of God as the fire, it will be broken to pieces by it as the hammer. Whatever opposition is given to the word, it will be burnt down and broken into pieces.
You must read the Word frequently and constantly. Feed your soul with the Word of God from good Christian literature, correct and seasoned men of God. Don’t just be pilling up shoes and clothes that have little or nothing to offer you in the face of life challenges and days of adversities; invest your money on good books and materials that will help you to stand correctly in your marital future. Attend meetings, conferences and retreats designed to help your making in life. Let your knowledge base of the Word be s
o rich that the Holy Spirit can always find the relevant Scriptures to apply to every marital demand. You cannot be constantly exposed to God’s Word and remain the same. Not only must you read, you must make up your mind to obey and pattern your life according to the Word of God. Your deliberate obedience to the Word of God is what achieves the transformation that qualifies you for the Temple site.
o rich that the Holy Spirit can always find the relevant Scriptures to apply to every marital demand. You cannot be constantly exposed to God’s Word and remain the same. Not only must you read, you must make up your mind to obey and pattern your life according to the Word of God. Your deliberate obedience to the Word of God is what achieves the transformation that qualifies you for the Temple site.
Several young ladies today have arrogantly eloped from the quarry of their making. Many have hastily rushed out of the dressing room that is necessary for their glorious appearance in marriage. There are others who are so anxious and excited about the wedding day that they forgot to pick necessary victuals for the marriage journey. Not being fully dressed and prepared, they have gone to say “I do” to the lifetime oath. Those are ladies that will later cause shame and disaster in marriage as they did not wait enough in the dressing room for their nakedness to be fully and properly covered by the hands of the dressers and quarry workers. Many ladies in this category are already causing trouble and breeding rottenness in the lives of their unlucky husbands. Every wise woman builds her own house. But the wisdom to build cannot be picked just anywhere. There is a place where this kind of wisdom is found-the quarry site and the dressing room.
Beloved reader, God is raising Temple-homes that will serve as platforms for the expression of His purpose on earth and propagation of godly seeds; homes where there will not be noise in the process of its making. And He is looking and searching for stones that He can use in the making of such homes. But remember, ONLY stones dressed in the quarry made it to the Temple site of Solomon. In like manner, only those who submit their lives to the quarry dealings and moulding of God will be part of the kind homes that God is raising for revival in these end times.
Beloved lady aspiring for marriage, are you really preparing for marriage or wedding? Remember these are two and different things altogether. Just like Leke Alder said, “A wedding is not the same as a marriage, and a marriage is not the same as a happy marriage.” Many single ladies today are getting dressed up for the wedding day but not for the married life. Which category do you belong? There is a processing chamber where every lady that will fulfil God’s original purpose in marriage as effective help meet for their husbands are been dressed up; it is the Quarry site. Everyone lady who is concerned about acquiring the capacity to build a godly home must visit this Quarry BEFORE the wedding day. It is a must for those who long for relevance in the glorious Temple wherein dwells the fullness of the Godhead. There they must be made, finished upon and fully dressed before they are released for the building of godly homes that will be instrumental in the Hand of God for transformation in the Body of Christ, communities and the entire world at large.
You need to get dressed for marriage before the married life begins. It is not the wedding that turns a lady into wife; wives materials are already prefinished at the quarry before they enter marriage. If you will not appear naked in your marital future; if you will not be a time bomb in marriage; then this Quarry experience is a must for you. And lest I forget to add this, any undone or unfinished part of your life before you enter marriage is what will continually introduce pores into your marital life. Also, remember that life will not excuse you for lack of necessary virtues required for living. The married life definitely will not excuse you for the virtues you fail to add to your life when you are still single.
I pray for you: where God has announced you are coming, may your arrival not be a disappointment.