Proverbs 31

Proverbs 31

The Words of King Lemuel

1 The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him:

2 What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows? 3 Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings. 4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, 5 lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted. 6 Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress; 7 let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. 8 Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. 9 Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

The Woman Who Fears the Lord

10 An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. 11 The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. 12 She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. 13 She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. 14 She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. 15 She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. 16 She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. 17 She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. 18 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. 19 She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. 20 She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. 21 She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet. 22 She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple. 23 Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. 24 She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant. 25 Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. 26 She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. 27 She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. 28 Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: 29 “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” 30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. 31 Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.

Devotional

Introduction

Proverbs 31 is one of those very well known chapters in Proverbs. It is the focus of many a book - particularly devotionals for women. One of the books I remember reading as a high-schooler was Mary Kassian's book "Girls gone wise". In it, she focuses on 20 qualities of girls who follow the path of wisdom. She will often compare (not always) the Proverbs 7 "wayward woman" with the Proverbs 31 "God-fearing woman". She outlines what a Wise woman would look like.

The Proverbs 31 woman is an outline of a good woman to seek out for marriage, especially as this book is written to Solomon's son, a young man. However, remember right from Proverbs 1, we recognised that this book is for everyone? We cannot assume that Proverbs 31 is something women must conform to - men must adhere as well.

And more than just being "Proverbs 31 men", as many in Christian circles will say, we should see the traits that come on, when we accept wisdom and become more wise. This is personified "Lady Wisdom". When we accept Lady Wisdom's call - one shown in Proverbs 1 - we actually change, to become more wise, and have these sorts of traits which are a blessing to others, and glorifying to God.

Study

1) What are the traits of the Proverbs 31 woman/Lady Wisdom?

1. Does her husband good/does not harm her husband (vs.12)

2. Works willingly (vs.13)

3. Shows initiative or resourcefulness (vs.14)

4. Give food/ provides the necessities for her home (vs.15,21,27)

5. She is strong (vs.17,25) - perhaps even confident.

6. Very valuable and precious (vs.18)

7. She is not idle/sluggish/lazy (vs.15,18-19,27)

8. Performs her duties (vs.19) and works hard (vs.24)

9. She is kind and generous to the poor (vs.20)

10. She is noble and respected (vs.22-23)

11. She is not anxious (vs.25b)

12. She is a wise and loving counsellor (vs.26)

13. She radiates joy to her home (vs.28-29)

14. She fears the Lord (vs.30)

2) What might this look like in a man or a woman?

All of these traits are valuable, moral and good. I don't know of a Christian who wouldn't find these traits honourable in their spouse/future spouse. For a Christian, many, if not all of these traits, would be very attractive.

But the difficulty is that no spouse will ever be perfect on this earth. Crazy thought: no marriage ever (unless of course God plans marriage in future plans - I don't know exactly what he has in store) will be perfect, except the marriage between God and his people. In any case, no earthly marriage, between one human and another, will ever be perfect. Neither will any human on this earth be perfect. Therefore, we cannot expect that our spouse will get all of these traits right.

However, what is really cool about Proverbs 31, is that we can aspire to live out these in our lives. And many of them, you might say you are better at than others. Praise the Lord when you see that. And pray to the Lord that you might do better.

The sad thing is, we are never going to be perfect. We will mess up. You will never find a perfect person. You will never be a perfect person. Another sad thing is, you and I forget to apply these traits every day. We become lazy, we become anxious, we do not fear the Lord as we ought, we are not generous, we are not respectable. We are messed up.

Which is where is become more than who I can marry. It become about, how can I be made perfect?

3) What might this look like as a Christian?

As I have said, these traits are admirable, commendable and right for a man or a woman to assume. However, as a Christian, we know they can never be fully perfected in us. What might these traits look like in a Christian?

An attempt, a likely failure, repentance, forgiveness, redo.

And recognise the attempt part. You know that Jesus told us to give up our lives as a sacrifice to him. Not only does that mean once. It does not mean that we should just convert, and live our lives as we want. No, every day must be an attempt at living for Christ. And in faith, and with much forgiveness, the Spirit sanctifies us to become more like the son.

Remember, Christ is the wisdom of God. Lady Wisdom has all the traits of Christ. Christ is perfectly wise. And in him - his death and resurrection - we might become more wise. One day, when our faith is sight, where we stand before the living God, we will be completely perfect, contented in him.

As a Christian on earth, we are not perfect. We must attempt. For to attempt is to show our heart's desire is to be perfectly wise. To attempt means we will likely fail, and thus recognise our need for Christ. To attempt is, in recognition that Christ is all we have, we accept his ability to make us righteous, to make us wise.

As a Christian, Proverbs 31 is a hope. It's our hope. It's our hope that one day we will be pure and holy, having all the traits of the woman.

For now, its just our attempt list.

Conclusion

Throughout the book of Proverbs, I wonder if you have seen wisdom as a person or a thing? Maybe its both. Wisdom is surely just a quality. But wisdom is so much more. It helps us in our lives, it helps us in the life to come. It is a gift from God, a navigation tool from the Spirit, the person of Jesus Christ. It is an attribute of God, a sign of sure perfection, a mark of righteousness and holiness.

Perfect wisdom is unachievable for us. But in the book of Proverbs, I hope you have discovered that the path of wisdom is the path of God, the path of righteousness, the right path.

We live in an evil world, which means that even though you may be increasingly wise, you might not always be commended for the wisdom of God. Paul talks about the wisdom of God being folly to the world. The gospel is folly to the world.

But you are not foolish, don't ever think that living for God is the path of folly.

I pray for the Spirit's sancification in your life, and that you might see, more clearly, his great power to transform you to the image of the wisdom of God: our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To the praise of his glorious grace! Amen.

A Little Word...

I want to thank everyone who has supported me through this. It's only been a month, but it was difficult sometimes to find the motivation. I pray that everyday, you are able to seek wisdom from God's word. Sometimes, our hearts and minds fight against it, but we must do it. And with God's help, we can do it.

I came at this series with little knowledge of what could happen. But I know, that whether my readers were encouraged or not, whether my devotionals received 100 views or 3, that the Lord was working in my life. I praise him, for he has helped me to see him more clearly in a book that we might not always pick as Gospel oriented.

Praise the Lord, for his marvellous words to us in Proverbs! May he continue to sanctify us, and conform us to the image of his son, as we continue to study him and make him known.