Proverbs 31

And Jehovah God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him” (Genesis 2:18; ASV).

Men and women were made to be complementary parts of a remarkable whole.  Our ultimate nature and destiny are the same, and much we are to be in life is identical, but our roles here are different.  This difference has nothing to do with value or status, but with the way God in His great wisdom ordered the human family.

There is nothing so priceless and so beautiful as a woman of spiritual grace and loveliness:  “Who can find a virtuous wife?  For her worth is far above rubies” (Proverbs 31:10; NKJV).  The man achieves what he does from a position of leadership, the woman from a position of submission.  This submission arises from the very nature of creation, the woman created for the man and not man for the woman (see 1 Timothy 2:11-15; 1 Corinthians 11:8-9).  There is nothing degrading about God’s order!  The wife follows to serve her husband and the husband leads to serve his wife.  Both serve each other in order to serve the Lord Jesus:  “…submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21; ESV).  Everything is for the sake of others.

The secret of the worthy woman is revealed by in the “words of King Lemuel, the oracle which his mother taught him” (Proverbs 31:1; NASBU).  The worthy woman “fears the LORD” (Proverbs 31:30; NASBU).  That is why the “heart of her husband trusts in her” (Proverbs 31:11; NASBU).  That is why she does her husband “good and no evil all the days of her life” (Proverbs 31:12; NASBU).  The foundation of her love for him is not his handsome good looks or his charming personality, but her deep love for Christ before whom she has committed here faithful love to her husband.

“Her children rise up and bless her; Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:  ‘Many daughters have done nobly, but you excel them all” (Proverbs 31:28-29; NASBU).  Let all of us rise up and give glory to God for the Godly women that have blessed us along the way.  Follow the lead of these good women as they have followed the lead of the Chief Shepherd. 

Jason