Page 45 - Sarah's Children

without a word by the behavior of their wives...

Over and over throughout the scriptures the woman and the tongue are linked
together. There is good reason for this. There is power in the tongue of a woman and
man is greatly impacted by it. The first sin of man occurred when Adam’s wife spoke
to him and described the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as being
highly desirable. Men have been enticed through the flattering tongue of an
adulteress and have been brought to ruin. Kings have been persuaded to commit
great evil through the seductive words of their wives as is seen in the relation
between Ahab and Jezebel. Men have turned their back on Yahweh and followed the
urging of their wives times without number.

Yet men have also been persuaded to a course of godliness by the tongue of a woman.
Cities have been delivered at the counsel of a wise woman. The weary souls of men
have been refreshed as choice words have been spoken from the lips of women in a
moment of great need. The anger of man that would have led to rash and regrettable
acts has been cooled by the choice fruit of a godly woman’s tongue. Men who have
been lacking in courage have been emboldened by the words of faith and confidence
that have arisen from the tongue of a wife, daughter, mother, or some other woman.

If a woman will die to the fleshly impulses that want to control her tongue, and she
will surrender her tongue to the purposes of God, she will find herself wielding a tool
of great life-giving power.

An event happened early in my marriage that showed me the incredible power of the
tongue of a woman when it is used wisely. It often happens that when a woman sees
her husband doing something wrong that she will take it upon herself to correct him.
This is never to be her role. A woman should not nag her husband or seek to correct
him with a word of reproof or rebuke. It is unseemly and inappropriate for those
under authority to do such a thing. Yet a wife or a daughter can, with wisdom and
restraint, speak in such a manner that the authority will desire to change from a
course of disobedience or ungodliness.

My wife demonstrated this principle to me in a very graphic and moving way. Not
long after we married, my wife and I purchased our first home. I was working as a
painting contractor at the time and one day I decided to paint the bathroom in our
home. When it came to painting around the bathtub I placed a small ladder in the
tub to reach up near the ceiling. Because a bathroom is a room where moisture is
ever present I chose to use an oil base paint due to its greater immunity to water
damage.

As I was standing on this ladder in the tub the ladder rocked and the can of oil base