Proverbs 31:10

Proverbs 31:10


A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.


It seems that many people try to claim that Christianity is demeaning towards women. Because ladies who follow the Scriptures are taught to be submissive, quiet, of meek spirit, modest, and keepers at home, people assume this means that we are somehow considered "less" than the men. They say that we are seen as less valuable and unimportant.

But, to me, this verse in itself shows how ridiculous of a notion that is. How can we be unimportant if an excellent wife is considered worth more than precious jewells?

There have been times where I might have become jealous of my husbands success in the "world". He has had a nice career that has paid him well and earned him respect. But he has been sure to say many times how he could not do it all without my support. Sometimes when I have felt discouraged I wonder how much value I could really bring. All I do is take care of the children and house, right? But my husband has often told me that he has the strength to go out and go to work each day because he has the comfort of knowing that he will come home to a place of refuge.

Sometimes it seems that wives and mothers have lots of "little" jobs. None if them individually seem all that important. We cook, we clean, we put bandages on scraped knees, we wash clothes, we iron, we shop for groceries, we make things, we listen to our loved ones lament about a broken toy or a hard day at work or difficulty in understanding a lesson. But all of these "little" things add up to something really special. Our loved ones feel secure in knowing we are there for them. There is comfort in knowing we have lovingly prepared there food for them. There is peace for our husbands in knowing that things are running smoothly on the homefront. We take one more thing off of the shoulders of our husbands by just having things "taken care of".

All that encompasses being a wife and homemaker can be complex, and I think that going through the verses in this chapter, and discussing how they apply to our lives today will help us to bring just what are duties are in to focus. It is easy to get off track, and to get discouraged and feel a little lost as to what we should be doing. I think that taking a look at what the Scriptures have to say to us, specifically in regards to our role, it will help us to get our priorities in order, and remember why we do all of the things that we do. When it feels like it is just "work" it is easy to become discontent, or to feel like it is just not fair, but perhaps being reminded that these duties are God-ordained will help us to remember that first of all we are commanded to do them, and second of all that they are of excellent worth.

I have heard the Proverbs 31 Lady described as an unattainable role model that we should know that we cannot really achieve. This just doesn't sound right to me. Our God is a loving God, so why would He set something before us that we cannot possibly do? We would never ask our children to do something that they are not capable of, why would He? The key is that we cannot do it alone. Without leaning on Him, and putting our trust where it belongs, we are not strong enough. But the Bible gives us clear directions for how to achieve becoming this excellent wife, we just must be willing to set aside the limitations we have set on ourselves and be willing to submit to following what the Bible says.

I know that I have quite a bit that I need to work on, and I am hoping that by re-reading these verses, and going through them one by one, it will help me to put my priorities into God's order, and that I can become a wife of noble character, whose worth is far above rubies.


Love,