T
HE IDEAL WOMANA Meditation on Proverbs 31:10-31
A few years ago Joan Brumberg wrote a book called The Body Project. “The book is about the difference between how girls saw themselves one hundred years ago and how they see themselves at the end of the twentieth century. Brumberg analyzes diaries of adolescent girls from the 1830s to the 1990s. Her conclusion, according to the reviewer: ‘In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, girls’ diaries focused on ‘good works’ and perfecting the character. In the 1990s, the diaries are fixated on ‘good looks,’ on perfecting the body.
“For example, one diary from 1892 says, ‘Resolved…to think before speaking. To work seriously. To be self restrained in conversations and actions. To be dignified. Interesting myself more in others.’ Contrast this with an entry from 1982: ‘I will try to make myself better in any way I possibly can with the help of my budget and baby sitting money. I will lose weight, get new lenses, already got new haircut, good makeup, new clothes and accessories’” (John Piper, The Godward Life, p.62).
This sad shift from 1892 to 1982 is exactly the shift the Bible warns us from making. It is a shift from “good works” to “good looks.” Consider God’s instructions to his daughters: “I desire… likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works” (1 Tim. 2:8-10). God’s emphasis for women is good works, not good looks. What’s your picture of the ideal women? Go to any grocery store and on the cover of such magazines as Self or Cosmopolitan or Glamour (the titles alone are telling) you will find a glossy picture of the world’s ideal women—a scantily clad, skinny supermodel with a great career, neglected children, and another disintegrating marriage. These covers scream, “I’m the ideal woman! Be like me! Emulate me!” In Proverbs 31:10-31, God says, “This is the ideal woman. Be like her. Emulate her.”
First, consider this woman’s noble character. “A wife of noble character who can find?” (Prov. 31:10a). Implication: Not many. The very first thing mentioned about this woman is her noble character. This simple stress on character is quite counter-cultural. Our society is obsessed with image, while God is concerned with integrity. The world spends most of its time fixing the external. God’s desire is that most of our time is spent fixing the internal. “Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, or the putting on of clothing—but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their husband’s” (1 Pet. 3:3-5). Women, the next time you get up in the morning and are having your devotional time, if your husband or children ask what you are doing, tell them, “I’m making myself beautiful.” A woman of noble character is rare; she is also valuable. “She is worth far more than rubies” (Prov. 31:10b,NIV). Ladies, emulate this woman. Gentlemen, marry this kind of woman. This is a woman you can trust (vs. 11), and one who will bring you respect (vs. 23).
Second, look at her work ethic. She does not lie on the sofa all day watching soap operas, while eating Bonbons. This woman is the personification of hard work. “She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household” (vs. 15). A little sweat doesn’t frighten her either. She works in the hot fields, which she purchased from her wise investments (vs. 16). Also, she makes a profit from her trading (vs. 18). “She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her” (vv. 27-28).
Finally, notice her fear of God. “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised” (vs. 30). Her noble character and hard work are the outcome of her fear of God. She speaks with wisdom (vs. 26). Where does wisdom come from? “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 9:10).
Proverbs was written “to know wisdom and instruction” (Prov. 1:2). The wife of noble character closes the book of Proverbs by providing us with an illustration of a person who has applied the teaching of Proverbs to their life with incredible results. “Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates” (Prov. 31:31). Honoring a woman at the city gates wasn’t usually done. But an unusual woman is worthy of unusual recognition.
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