Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Proverbs 31 woman - Day 14 (and probably final)
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I say 'probably' final, b/c I still have several pages of notes from my old study that I haven't included here yet. Still musing on whether to bore everyone with all that.....let me know what you think. The old study is taken from the KJV and the Strong's concordance and some of Matthew Henry. Just to let you know. And a little from yours truly, too!!! In the meantime...... "Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades. The woman to be admired and praised is the woman who lives in the Fear-Of-God. Give her everything she deserves, Festoon her life with praises." Festoon. I just love the sound of that word. And I find it rather ironic that the editors of this version, supposedly the 'hip/now/with it/totally contemporary/TODAY' version of the Scriptures, uses a word that I'm pretty sure is Victorian. I mean, how many 'with it' teens or young adults do YOU hear saying, "Man, I really need to festoon that jacket with some Harley decals" or "Dude, did you festoon your ride with spinner wheels or what?" Oh, well. I am reminded of a very sad, serious incident in our lives when 'charm' DID mislead us. It does not necessarily need to be a woman. Men, acting as agents of Satan, can 'charm'. And let me tell you.....it can mislead you. A VERY important reason to be 'prayed up' so to speak. Beauty soon fades. Don't we know it? And spend boatloads of money to try to get it to NOT fade or at least to slow it's process. I am sure the writer was referring to the beauty of youth here. NOT the inward beauty of a life well lived, devoted to God. And notice that the woman who should be admired AND praised is one who lives in a different world. A different planet. A different plane from women of the world ........she lives in a place called "Fear-Of-God". Which to me means this woman bases her decisions completely on whether what she is about to do is pleasing to God. Does it fit HIS guidelines as outlined in the Bible? I am sure this word 'fear' means 'reverence' as in how we are to 'fear' our husbands. It's quite a different place to live and to be 'coming from' that the world's view of where a woman should live. Everything she deserves. I am CERTAINLY glad that I do not get everything I REALLY deserve. But, after examining the Proverbs 31 woman, there is a beautiful reward for a life well lived. And in that respect, it is that life that can be 'festooned' with praises, not only from her family, but others as well. This small sentence makes me think of the flower arrangements that many leave for a loved one at the time of funeral service. For a while, it seemed like all we did was go to funeral services. And I found a strange phenomenon happening there. At almost every one, the women relatives of the deceased would walk around and literally 'show off' the different flower arrangements to each guest. "this one is from the people she worked with at the blah, blah company" or "now this really big one over here is from the neighborhood where she served as block watch captain for a while" or even "these are from her children.....aren't they just lovely?" Festooning her life with praises. AFTER she's gone, which is appropriate, but I personally would like my family to festoon me with a few praises while I'm still here!!! Need to really keep this Proverbs 31 woman in mind, I think. I happened to glance at my old study and decided to include it here: ****30. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Favour – grace, charm Deceitful – lie, falsehood Vain – breath, vapor Feareth – reveres Praiseth – made to shine Our paraphrase: Charm and grace are lies, beauty is but a vapor, but a woman that reveres God will be made to shine. “There is no beauty course in the whole world that can make you as beautiful as a clean life and a close walk with God.” A quote we have all heard, I'm sure. Which basically means, that everything that we see on the commercials, the movies, even in some of the books we read, telling us how to be beautiful, are nothing but lies. I could go to charm school, learn all the proper etiquette, dress in the latest most beautiful fashion, be seen with all the “right” people, even culture my voice, but unless I love God, fear his commandments and think of others first, I can use all the make-up in the world, but it is not going to make me shine…..only the love of God inside me will make me truly beautiful. I think of that song….”Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me”. 31. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates. Fruit – reward, product of Works – deeds, labor, undertaking, enterprise, work Our paraphrase: Give this woman the reward of her own hands and let her labor and work boast of her in the entering in places of the city. You know the saying, “Well, that _______ speaks for itself.” I wonder if this is where that saying came from. You know many of the colloqoialsms that we use on a daily basis have their roots in the Bible. I guess if we were to “cut to the chase”, this verse would say that I should not have to seek the praise of others, that what I do for others and for the Lord will speak for itself, in places where it matters. Like in church, or my home. I see in this passage that her husband was known in the gates, but this woman, it was her works and the product of her own hands that were known in the gates. I see this as meaning I need to keep a low profile and not try to gather attention to myself. I should only seek to glorify God, my husband and my family and let my works speak for me.**** Think about that. Not gather attention to myself. TOTALLY and completely diametrically opposed to how today's society says a woman should live. All in all, I would say this Proverbs 31 woman, whether from the KJV or this version, The Message, is a woman that I should seek to emulate. It has been a fun and somewhat humbling journey. I will see if I am led to put the rest of my old study up here. We are currently on a "Mid Winter Break" from school and trying to accomplish things here at the house that sort of just stopped upon the death of my husband's father. I have been extremely remiss to not be commenting, especially to you wonderful ladies who have been following this study. One of you lovely ladies asked if she could print these out and share them with her friends and I have not personally answered her, and I will, but let me say that if anyone would like to use these in that fashion, you may, I only ask that you credit me with the work. As an author, I have learned to protect my writing with copyright. Sorry. Sad fact of life. I am humbled to think my writings would be used in that way. All to the glory of God!!! I have done much praying and thinking about that issue and currently, that is where my husband requests that I stand. I had planned a self imposed break from the computer and internet and even our phone, due to a financial crisis......but hubby assured me that we could keep the internet. SOOOO.....I'll have to be praying and see what God will open up to me for here. Or I may just be 'chatting' about our homestead journey for a while. We'll see. Denise aka The Domestic Angel |
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Wednesday, February 6, 2008 - Thank you!
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