It’s 4:15 AM and as I walked outside onto our deck, looking up to the star-filled sky, I couldn’t help but pray,
“Beautiful! Father, it’s all so beautiful. A sky full of reminders of Your faithfulness, promises and reflections of Your majesty. Help me today to work unto Your glory.”
The stars sparkling against the blackness of His universe are a sight that stirs in my soul immediate awe, worship and praise.
But … why is that?
Why does such a black, yet sparkling starry “still night” sky have such a real, personal, and humbling effect? Is it because the Word of God says, “He counts the number of the stars, He gives names to all of them.” Ps. 147:4 – A verse that speaks to the omniscience and omnipresence and omnipotence of God. Or is it because in Genesis 15:5, God says to Abraham, “And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them. And He said to him, so shall your descendants be;” – a verse, declaring the providential will of God. Or is it because Abraham also heard from the Lord, His promise to him, “I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens” in Genesis 22:17 & 26:4.
As I look to the black starry morning sky, the answer to each of those ponderings is a resounding yes! The verses in Psalm 147 and in Genesis 15, 22, and 26 are all speaking of God’s providential history, today and in the future… He is faithful!
But there is another reason why the morning, this morning, the “still night” sky draws my heart to worship God. To trust Him. To seek His face. To ask for His Spirit’s help. And to intentionally, by His grace, bank my life on his faithfulness. And that reason is found in Proverbs 31.
“She rises also while it is still night. And gives food to her household. And portions to her maiden.”
Verse 15, “She rises” to a morning that is a “still night” sky. Her morning begins as it ended. Verse 18 says, “Her lamp does not go out at night.” That means she went to bed with the night sky, and she arose to a new day to a morning “still night.”
And what does that tell us?
That this woman’s work meant the world to her.
The word, “Lamp,” is to be read literally. During the day, she worked in her vineyard (verse 16) and she could be found sewing on into the night. She would then rise early enough that her morning was “still night” so that she could prepare food for her family. She literally lived “before-sunrise to after-dark habits” just to take care of her household well.
But why? Why do we find such long hours of discipline in her life?
It’s because her household, the care of those in her home, is the utmost priority of her days. The work of her hands was the work of her heart. She had the righteous desire to “make home” and that translated into her seeing her work as “divine duties” that glorify God and bless those in her home and community. Does this mean that we, as homemakers, are to go to bed when it is dark and rise the next day while it is still dark in order for us to be obedient to this woman’s godly example? Absolutely not. We would be taking this scripture out of his context and applying some legalism to it if we thought this verse was instructing us to get up to a starry sky every morning. But what her example does encourage is this … that we do whatever it takes to meet the needs of our own household, and others, in providing quality efforts and excellence in our work. Her before sunrise and after dark habits exhort us to do whatever it takes so that our family has our best, unto the Lord for the glory of God. Her getting up while it was “still night” was required of her in order to fulfill the divine duties of her day. And she wholeheartedly embraced that.
What is required of you? For you to be the wife, the mom, the woman of God that you long to be, what changes may need to be made in your day-to-day living so that what matters most to you is taken care of, and taken care of well? Do you need to possibly go to bed earlier, so you can wake up earlier and spend time with the Lord in bible reading and prayer? Maybe to wake up earlier so you can exercise before the family wakes up? Is your home needing some organization? Maybe some better-established approaches to your work and the routines to your day? Will you consider taking some time to pray and think about these areas of your life and to really evaluate YOUR day-to-day habits and answer this question,
“What changes could I make to my daily and weekly life so that the care of my family, our home, the needs of others, and myself are getting optimal attention and quality efforts from me?
So, for us as homemakers, simply seeing a starry “still night” morning can bring to our mind the awe and faithfulness of God. It can rejuvenate our zeal for kingdom living and reassure us that the Creator God of such a majestic and expansive sky is in full authoritative control. And that is why we can look up and pray,
“Beautiful! Father, it is all so beautiful. A sky filled with reminders of Your faithfulness, promises, and with reflections of Your majesty. Help me today, to work unto Your glory.”