The Beautiful Woman

Life has been a bit crazy lately, so I apologize for just now getting back to finishing up our Proverbs 31 study! This study has been such a blessing to my life and I hope and pray it's blessed you too!

Proverbs 31:30-31

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

The Hebrew word for fleeting here means “breath” or “vapor”. We can truly understand how fleeting beauty is when we know that the meaning of it is just a breath or just a vapor of time.

Lately I’ve been seeing Hollywood actors portrayed in online articles about botched plastic surgery or who went too far in their surgery attempts, etc. I read through these and truthfully.. it breaks my heart. These actors aren’t allowed to age in their profession. They’re not allowed to be real people with real faces and real bodies. I’m not against plastic surgery, honestly. I don’t have a problem with it and I don’t think it’s sinful or wrong. However, I think the heart behind it can be sinful. I think when we become obsessed to be something we aren’t, then there’s a sin issue. I think when we look at ourselves and pick ourselves apart because we aren’t beautiful enough and yet, we are made in the image of God, then I think there’s a sin issue. It’s my opinion that when enough is never enough… Just one more surgery, just a few more pounds lost or gained, just a few more things, etc. When we are never satisfied with who we are, what we have, and what we’ve been given.. then there is a sin issue. A heart issue. An issue that we need to take to the cross of Jesus and lay at His feet to find healing and restoration from Him. To find redemption in who He created us to be! 

photo credit www.enchantingquotes.com

As the Proverbs reveal to us... charm is deceiving. Beauty is fleeting… it's just a vapor. It comes and then it can just as easily go. But a woman who fears the Lord… she will be praised. She will be blessed. Isaiah 60:1 says, “Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to see. For the glory of the LORD rises to shine on you.” One of the most beautiful things we can understand about the Excellent Wife is that above all things regarding her appearance, she fears the Lord! She is concerned about what God thinks about her more than what others think about her. Her priorities are according to what God has called her to do.. not the expectation of others. She fears the Lord and because of this, 

then she is praised, admired, and honored by her family. Because of her fear of the Lord.. He rises up and His beauty shines upon her!

She is woman who is honored at the city gate. Women weren’t often recognized at the city gate, but an extraordinary woman definitely deserved extraordinary recognition. We can find so many wonderful assets & virtues about this woman and we can all hope that through prayer and growing closer to the Lord that we, too, can be an Excellent Wife (or for the unmarried... an Excellent Woman!)

What was your favorite part of learning about the Excellent Wife?