Prescribing Proverbs
Have you picked up your prescription today?
August 31st, 2021
A Proverb a day keeps Untruth away
Proverbs 1:1-6, ‘These are the wise sayings of Solomon, David’s son, Israel’s king—written down so we’ll know how to live well and right, to understand what life means and where it’s going; a manual for living, for learning what’s right and just and fair; to teach the inexperienced the ropes and give our young people a grasp on reality. There’s something here also for seasoned men and women, still a thing or two for the experienced to learn—fresh wisdom to probe and penetrate, the rhymes and reasons of wise men and women.’ (MSG)
Prescription (RX) Thirty-One: Hope for the Worn-Out Woman
Proverbs 31:30-31, ‘Charm can be misleading and beauty is vain and so quickly fades, but the virtuous woman lives in the wonder, awe, and fear of the Lord. She will be praised throughout eternity. So go ahead and give her the credit that is due, for she has become a radiant woman and all her loving works of righteousness deserve to be admired at the gateways of every city!’ (TPT)
I wonder if for any other women reading Proverbs 31 and about the Virtuous Wife has ever been difficult as it has been for me. It’s a passage of Scripture that has been notated and preached on more times than I can count, and in addition, I have read through it many times. What a hard act to follow, right? Who is this woman, I used to whisper snidely to myself. I don’t know her; in fact, I don’t even see her. I doubt she exists anymore—maybe back in Bible times, I’d think, as I look at all of us regular women in stretched out jersey shorts or polyester pants with the Spanx underneath, dribbles of baby spit-up dried on the shirt collar, or yesterday’s or last year’s coffee emblazoned on the workout tunic instead of sweat. No royal purple garment of linen parading around where I’m at, and the only fine merchandise I see on display is on Pinterest or modeled in a Fixer-Upper Home. I have giggled and whispered under my breath, “That’s why it says, ‘a virtuous woman, who can find?’” because we all who are easily found eat our bread and enjoy it too, and sometimes my lamp doesn’t even come on, let alone never goes out?!
But as the years have burned both ends of the candle, and the days often appear more in the rearview mirror, as clarity becomes something we see more clearly with our heart than with our eyes, I think I catch glimpses of this woman’s nobility more often than not. There are snatches from time to time, and little reminders I jot down in a journal, and I reconcile that the Lord is keeping track so we don’t need to—all the unseen acts of kindness and the words of gentleness and the balm spread from the caring tongue of a true friend and the endlessness of helping one another get through this together.
Beautiful You, I just wanted to remind you how valuable and worthy you are even when you hang your head in defeat as you utter the words of Proverbs 31 like an anthem, a march you’re hoping to get to someday. We likely won’t bear all or even many of those qualities, but be your best you, the beautiful you He created you to be. Give Him and your family what you have to give, and I bet He multiplies it, just like He multiplies every other necessary thing. Because you are necessary. To many.
