Mother’s Day is coming up soon, and I thought we could learn more about the women God gave us to guide us on our journey through life. So, I will look at some women God honored in His Word for May. This week, I want to examine the woman in Proverbs 31.
In Proverbs 31, we find a woman who knows the beauty of daily purpose, order, and focus—the beauty that can enrich a woman’s personal life, marriage, family, and work relationships.
What’s especially exciting is that the secrets to her productive and meaningful lifestyle still apply to Christian women today! You, too, can know your priorities, understand your purpose, have a clear daily direction, and enjoy greater order and simplicity.
Let’s study this woman. As we pay attention to the imagery used to describe this outstanding lady, we should also consider how much of a treasure this godly woman is. She is, in fact, a woman God chooses to praise. Each verse contains a shining gem of her character.
As you consider these qualities, don’t get discouraged. God has unveiled this treasured woman to admire, inspect, study, emulate, and point others to. Look at this list and choose one that may need more in your life or needs extra attention. Think about them and ask God to show you how to grow in that area.
At the beginning of the chapter, we meet what many believe is the woman behind the picture of the ideal woman: King Lemuel’s mother.
She saw teaching her son about life, leadership, and marriage as a mandate, one of her responsibilities.
Life is a cycle of being taught and then teaching, mentoring, and modeling life. Don’t miss any opportunity to pursue godliness and learn from older, wiser women. And don’t fail to take every opportunity to teach others, beginning with your children, about God’s standards for life and godly living.
Allow the woman in Proverbs 31 to teach you the excellent qualities God desires in His women. Let her godliness model for you and mold your heart and life into one of virtue, strength, and beauty.
As we describe the woman in Proverbs 31, the words “virtuous” and “excellent” appear 200+ times in the Bible. This Old Testament word refers to a force and means “able, capable, mighty, strong, valiant, powerful, efficient, wealthy, and worthy.” Its primary meaning involves military strength.
Just as the two forces of mental toughness and physical energy are primary traits of an army, they also mark God’s Proverbs 31 woman.
Something to think about: How do you measure up in mental toughness and physical energy? And what improvements can you make? After learning a little about what virtue and excellence mean, why do you think such a woman is rare? Have those who know you found a virtuous, noble, excellent woman?
Let’s look at one of her virtues, the treasure of her faithfulness.
In vs. 11, it does not refer to this husband’s affection for his wife but to his confidence in his wife- his complete confidence. The following Proverbs talk about the damage done by a wife with a character flaw.
12:4- Decay in his bones
19:13- quarrelsome, wife=constant dripping
21:19- live in a desert rather than with an ill-tempered and quarrelsome wife.
The husbands in these verses can’t say they have “full confidence” in their wives.
Throughout the Book of Proverbs, God advises against trusting in anyone or anything other than Himself. What do the following Proverbs warn against?
3:5 -Not to lean on one’s own understanding
16:20 -to heed instruction
28:26 -is a fool
Now, what do these Proverbs teach us to do instead? What are God’s promises?
3:5 –Trust Him with all our heart
16:20 –Blessed
28:25 –Will Prosper
We usually have to trust in God, not in man. However, in this rare exception (Proverbs 31:11), the husband can trust his wife’s faithfulness.
Verse 10 hints at the dazzling excellence of this wonderful wife. But in verse 11, God shines His spotlight on her magnificence. We’ve noted that the masculine term for “virtuous” refers to warriors in the Bible. Still, in V.11, the Hebrew language paints a metaphoric picture of this woman as a mighty warrior who utilizes her abilities to benefit her husband’s domain.
Her commitment to all her mental and physical resources is to her husband’s well-being and reputation. How does she better his life, as shown in Proverbs 31:11? Proverbs 31:12?
He lacks nothing of value/brings him good and not harm, all her days
What is his reputation according to V.23?
He is respected at the city gate.
If you are married, can you point to any area of your life or behavior that would cause your husband not to trust you? What changes can you make to be a more faithful wife?
What have we learned that a husband’s greatest asset should be? (V.10). Could the same be said of your contribution to your husband?
We cannot leave this shining treasure of faithfulness without a piercing, penetrating look in the mirror. We must examine our hearts as we pursue the excellence that is to mark us as God’s women.
Are you and I women of faithfulness? Can others, beginning with those at home, count on us? Can others trust us with information? With work? With responsibility?
Can others trust us no matter what? Proverbs 25:19 states, “Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a bad tooth and a foot out of joint.”
Just like this faithful wife in Proverbs 31:11, who was her husband’s wealth and treasure, so are you to all who know you and to whom you serve. Then, dear ones, the priceless gem of faithfulness will make you worth far more than any treasure.
In the beginning, God created. Gen 1:1. The very first words in the Bible describe our great and mighty God as One who created and thus was creative.
As a bonus, you and I have been “created in His image” (Gen 1:27), which means we possess some of God’s attributes, including creativity.
Do you realize that each time you create something, you tell everyone, “I am creative because my God is creative, and I have been made in His image”?
As we continue to examine the woman in Proverbs 31, we see her creativity and industriousness. Let’s explore our imaginative teacher and discover yet another lesson in godliness.
She engages in various activities in Vs. 13, 19, 21, and 22. She selects wool and flax, holds the distaff, and grasps the spindle. Her family is clothed in scarlet, and she makes coverings for her bed. What do all these activities have in common? Creativity! Look at V. 24. What three facts do we learn about her?
Makes garments
Sells them
Supplies merchants
This woman made her “linen” fabric, which had to be made before garments could be made. The “sashes” were like belts or girdles worn to gather the flowing garments of her day. Leather belts were standard, but a linen sash or belt was more attractive and costly, sometimes woven with gold and silver thread and studded with jewels and gold.
This woman sold, bartered, and traded her fine linen and exquisite sashes. In other words, she had a little industry going. So, what does this indicate about the quality of her goods, the betterment of her family, and an outlet for her creativity?
It is tempting to look at this godly woman and say, “But I don’t have the free time she had!” How else could she accomplish all this? But we know the truth. God’s woman treasured her time and used it wisely and industriously.
How are you doing when it comes to putting these two ends of the day to work for you and your loved ones? What do we learn in V.18?
Her trading is profitable.
What do you do well and love doing? Think about it and pray about it. Are you faithful to improving your areas of giftedness and increasing your skills?
What two things could you do to fuel your creative expertise? I know we’re busy, but so was this godly woman. Here, she shows us how to manage our time and lives to pursue our passions without neglecting our work and those at home.
She used her time, planned and prepared for her activities, followed a schedule, and worked hard. This is a recipe we can follow to the letter. So, let’s take some initiative and get the creative juices flowing!
How many times has your family thanked you? Being a wife and mother is often a thankless job. No one usually appreciates our hard work, thrift, creativity, and positive outlook on life.
Many of us go days without a single “thank you” from those we serve, whether at home, church, or work. It might be hard to take for some, unless we remember we are not serving man but instead serving the Lord (Col 3:23-24)
But it’s also true that those rare occasions when someone says “thank you” out of the blue or compliments you on your efforts often make all the hard work seem worth it.
Let’s look at V. 28. This is the first and only glimpse of the children of the Proverbs 31 woman. What do we see them doing? Rising and calling her blessed. The “rising,” however it was done, whether rising and standing or figuratively growing up and going on to live in a way that honored her, these children are paying tribute to their beloved mother.
Who else is paying her tribute? Her husband. What is he saying? He calls her blessed and praises her. What are his words of praise? Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.
What are some roles we must fulfill as mothers according to Proverbs
31:15 – providing food for the family
31:21 – clothing for family
31:22 – linens for bed and clothing
31:26 – speaks from wisdom and faithful instruction
31:27 – cares for the affairs and stays busy
31:30 – fears the Lord
*Titus 2:4 – train younger women to love their husbands and children. (More to come in the next post about the Titus two woman!)
According to these Proverbs verses, what are the roles we have as wives
31:11 – have husbands’ confidence in us
31:12 – bring him good, not harm
31:23 – hubby’s respect
31:25 – strength and dignity
Ephesians 5:22 – submit to our husbands
Ephesians 5:33 – respect our husbands
*Titus 2:4 – love husbands (children)
When we major in and fulfill these roles, we shall receive our Lord’s “well done, good and faithful servant” (wife/mom)! Are there any areas where you fall short of God’s assignment as a wife/mother? Pray and ask God to help you honor Him and your family.
Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who’s the fairest of them all?
This is a fairy tale every woman is familiar with. After studying the Proverbs 31 woman and the treasures of this godly woman, we see that she is the fairest of them all.
So how about us? Yes, we were “fair” at some time, but we must admit that our outward beauty is declining today. Like all temporal things, it was, and there is no more.
But true beauty – hidden beauty, inner beauty, and lasting beauty of the heart spoken of in 1 Peter 3:3-4 can be ours if we focus our lives on the spiritual life instead of physical beauty. Let’s look at one more treasure of a woman who is reverent of soul and fears the Lord.
In the beginning, we say this woman is teaching her young son about the kind of woman to marry. I’m sure she was earnest when she got to this one core quality: reverence for God in a woman’s heart. She warns her young son of two vanities to be aware of.
Charm is deceptive. Charm is a noun that means the power to delight or attract people. It is fickle and fleeting, and in the end, it is one of life’s illusions, one of life’s vanities. It can never produce happiness or accomplish the work of life. What misuse of charm is described in the following Proverbs?
5:3 – speech of an adulteress
7:21 – words seduced
21:6 – lying words
Beauty is fleeting. It is a noun that combines qualities that make something pleasing to look at, listen to, touch, smell, or taste.
Beauty is only skin deep, fleeting as it fades, and does not guarantee a happy life or effectively manage life’s nuts and bolts realities.
What is our only hope for beauty in the following verses?
Proverbs 31:30 – Fear of the Lord
2 Cor.4:16 – being renewed day by day
1 Tim. 2:9-10 – good deeds
Titus 2:3 – teach what is good
1 Peter 3:3-4 – gentle and quiet spirit
What virtue, then, does this mother say is truly praiseworthy? Fear of the Lord.
The word reverent is an adjective that means feeling or expressing profound respect or awe.
In stark contrast to the temporary and fleeting vanities of charm and good looks is the everlasting beauty of “the fear of the Lord.”
What insights do the following Proverbs give about the “fear of the Lord”?
1:7 – beginning of knowledge
8:13 – hate evil
9:10 – wisdom/knowledge/humility
15:33 – teaches wisdom
22:4 – bring wealth/honor/life
So, according to Proverbs 31:30, it is better for a woman to fear the Lord than to have charm and beauty, and a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
We should all have a heart for excellence, but a love and reverence for the Lord begins with a relationship with Jesus. I invite you to establish one today and start living a life of true, internal, Eternal beauty!
Did you check out last week’s post about Finding Your Unique Gifts, Calling, and Purpose?
Resources:
Becoming a Proverbs 31 Woman – Elizabeth George. https://elizabethgeorge.com/blogs/devos/becoming-a-proverbs-31-woman
Daughters of Faith – 11. https://www.sluiceboxadventures.com/daughters_faith11.htm
