Derek Prince - How To Know If You're A Successful Husband
All right, now. Let’s consider what’s implied in what I’ve been teaching. What I want to say in essence is this. The husband’s success is seen in his wife. The wife’s success is seen in her husband. I heard about an experienced minister once who was asked about a certain Christian, Is he a good Christian? And he replied: I don’t know. I can’t tell you yet, I haven’t met his wife. That’s a very wise answer.
Let’s look at just two statements. First of all, about the wife, in 1 Corinthians 11:7. Let’s leave out the question of head covering for the next meeting. Because it’s somewhat... well, let’s not even go into it. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God. But woman is the glory of man. Or, the wife is the glory of the husband. You have to understand, in Greek, in Hebrew, in German and various other languages, the same word means man and husband, and woman and wife. So you have to decide in English which is the appropriate translation, but it includes both.
So, the wife is the husband’s glory. If you want to know, and this is a very searching statement, if you want to know whether I’m a successful husband, don’t look at me, look at my wife. That’s how you’ll find out just how successful I am as a husband. Let me suggest to you one key word that a husband should produce in his wife, is security. There are multitudes of insecure women today, because there are multitudes of husbands that are not doing their job. Then look at the picture of the really successful woman, by Bible standards, in Proverbs 31. You know that, the last half of the last chapter of Proverbs. She’s not the president of a corporation, she’s an extremely successful wife and mother.
And let me say, I think it takes much more guts and character to be a successful wife and mother than it does to be the president of the largest corporation. It’s a much harder job. We’re not going to read this all but it says: Who can find a virtuous woman? That’s not a very good translation. In Hebrew: Esched Hial. Hial means strength, success, power. Who can find a really successful woman? That’s what it is. And then the writer of Proverbs says: Her price is far above rubies... Husbands, why don’t you earn some good marks by your wife and say amen to that. Her price is far above rubies. I didn’t hear you. All right. A few amens. Okay. It will come back to you in blessing, believe me. You’ll get something extra cooked for that supper the next time.
I just want to point out that in this picture of the successful woman, it begins, it centers in and it concludes with the husband. What’s the evidence of her success? Primarily? Her husband. Look at verse 11: The heart of her husband safely trusts her... verse 23: Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. That’s the position of honor, of distinction, of dignity, of success. But he’s there because he’s her husband. It’s what she has contributed to him that causes him to be in that position. And then right at the end, verse 28: Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.
Let me say to you husbands and to myself, it pays to praise your wife. Believe me. Many of you would be surprised how much a wife longs for praise. You can’t really pay her for what she does, there’s no way that you could pay a good wife. But you give her praise. I mean, in a sense, it’s a bargain. Think of what you get. I mean that sincerely. And I say that to myself because I tend to take people for granted. I mean, I’m interested in results, so people are there and if we get the results, praise God. But God has been teaching me don’t take the people for granted. Because it doesn’t pay. That’s not true just of wives, it’s true of all who work with us and serve us. Don’t take them for granted.