PRUDENCE: A Key attribute in a God-given Wife

This brief note is inspired from RCCG’s Sunday school manual (2014-2015 edition), from the topic of 26^TH April 2015 – Knowing God’s will in marriage.

Proverbs 19:14 – “House and riches are the inheritance of fathers: and a prudent wife is from the LORD”

QUESTION: going by the passage above, would i be right if I came to the conclusion that possessing prudence (as an attribute) is a true test of a Godly woman when seeking out a wife?

WHAT IS PRUDENCE?

Making use of my phones dictionary as a source, I pulled out these definitions;

1.     Discretion in practical affairs

2.     Knowing how to avoid embarrassment or distress; discretion; discreetness; circumspection.

From the passage(Proverbs 19:14), we got one word; from the single word, we have now gotten a collection of words, that might help us gain clarity and better understanding of what to look out for in a desired wife as a Christian man.

Note Prior to this moment, I have always thought that prudence only applied to financial matters!

Now let’s look up another definition of the word “prudence” as gotten from dictionary.com;

·        Prudence as a Noun: the quality or fact of being prudent or wise in practical affairs as by providing for the future.

The above definition is so very rich! It says “wisdom in practical affairs”. This implies that she must be wise in handling daily occurrences that we often encounter (not just in words, but in deeds).

It further goes on to say “as by providing for the future.” That means she must be quite adept at planning. She should be one that is able to take pre-emptive measures in case of any eventuality in the future.

Dissecting the word “Prudence”

To do this, we go back to our start up definition and treat the other words we came across.

PRUDENCE: knowing how to avoid embarrassment or distress; discretion; discreetness; circumspection.

·        Being Circumspect:  Heedful of potential consequences. This implies that she evaluates before acting or making decisions. She makes sure to weigh the pros and cons!

·        Discreetness: Subtly skillful in handling of a situation; delicacy; diplomacy; finesse. The foregoing implies that she must be able to quell any brewing storm or conflict. She mustn’t be a person easily prone to brashness or easily angered. Essentially, we are looking at a PACIFIST here. A DOVISH fellow I must add. She must therefore have the ability to rein in her emotions rather than being controlled by them.

·        Discretion: The trait of judging wisely or objectively. Again, this points to the woman’s emotional stability. In order to be objective, one needs to be able to put emotions to one side, and properly weigh the issues at hand without being sentimental or otherwise swayed my emotional triggers.

Can this single word be the ultimate key in seeking out a Godly wife? That is the million dollar question.

Image from: http://www.textgiraffe.com/Prudence/