This month our Scripture writing/reading plan is all about living virtuously in Jesus. The first 22 days of our Scripture plan are focused on Proverbs 31:10-31. Before we start to dive further into some of the Verses from this passage of Scripture lets start by reading that passage of Scripture now. Proverbs 31:10-31 says:
“Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar. She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates. (Proverbs 31:10-31, KJV)
Proverbs 31 is a well known passage of Scripture. In this passage of Scripture God teaches us some characteristics that can be seen in someone who follows Jesus. While this passage of Scripture is speaking of a virtuous woman it is teaching all of us the behaviors we should exhibit as followers of Jesus and it is not exclusive to women. A virtue is a behavior or moral that a person exhibits. As God’s children, who have accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, we are called to live our lives like Jesus and we are able to do so by God’s power at work within us in His Holy Spirit Who lives in every believer. As we start out reading the passage of Scripture above, we are reminded right away that our character and what’s on the inside of a person are far more precious and valuable than what we see on the outside. There is only one way to become the person God desires us to be on the inside and that is to receive Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior receiving eternal life and eternal forgiveness for all of our sins in Him! Jesus loves us and gave Himself for us to reconcile us to God! (John 3:16, Romans 3:25) When you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, then you receive the Holy Spirit Who lives in each believer (Acts 2:38) and it is by God’s power within us that we display the character of Jesus our Savior (Galatians 2:20). It is Jesus Who loves people through us! So naturally when Jesus lives in us, as our personal Lord and Savior, then His love and His truth is reflected in us because Jesus lives in us! That is such an incredible blessing!
Let’s look at a few of these verses more closely and dive into the instruction we are receiving from the Lord. Proverbs 31:13 says that “She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. (KJV) We are instructed to work eagerly and willingly and it is important to remember that we are always working unto the Lord! We are to work eagerly and earnestly and diligently unto the Lord our God by His power that is at work within us in Jesus Christ our Savior! It is important to remember that we work unto the Lord with any and all work that the Lord gives us to complete in Him. This means that not a single task is unimportant or minuscule. We do all of our work unto the Lord for His glory and God blesses us with exactly what we need to do so in Him!
Proverbs 31:17 says that “She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. (KJV) We work unto the Lord our God! God blesses us with each task that He wants to complete through us. No task is unimportant and we are instructed to complete each task with exuberant, fervent energy in the Lord! It is the Lord our God that blesses us with the ability to do this in Him! God blesses us with each task that He wants to complete through us and each task we have is a blessing from God! We are instructed to complete each task in the Lord with humble, submissive, reliance upon the Lord! God will teach us and help us to complete each task in a manner that brings God glory by His power that is at work within us in Jesus Christ our Savior! Remember, God is faithful even when we are not, (1 Corinthians 1:9) and God is constantly working in you and through you! You have everything that you need in your Savior Jesus (Ephesians 1:3), Who lives in you, (Galatians 2:20, 1 John 4:15) and God will complete each task through you! So go about each task with the fervent energy of the Lord! We are also encouraged in this verse that we are strong in the Lord our God! God is our strength! (Psalm 46:1) God makes us strong for our tasks, each and every single task that He gives us! So do not feel weak or as if you are not up to the task! God has blessed you with your tasks and He is your strength! We are instructed to work fervently unto the Lord our God with the strength that He provides us in Jesus Christ our Savior, by His power that is at work within us! So let us be faithful to do so with a joyful, thankful heart relying on the strength of our God within us!
Proverbs 31:14 says that “She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar. (KJV) Ships face long journeys and tumultuous weather. Ships are resilient and endure great difficulties. In this verse we see how we are instructed to endure in the Lord and rely upon His strength no matter what we are facing. We must be resilient in the Lord our God sincerely reliant upon His mighty power that is at work within us in Jesus our Savior! It is important to remember that struggles in our lives are blessings from God! I know that struggles can seem exceedingly difficult while we are facing them, but we must always remember that the Lord disciplines the one He loves! (Hebrews 12:5-7, Hebrews 12:11) Like our earthly fathers discipline us to prepare us for life and to live it well, our Heavenly Father disciplines us to teach us and prepare us to live a life that glorifies Him in Jesus our Savior! (Hebrews 12:9-10) God always works all things out for the good of His children! (Romans 8:28) Be encouraged that by God’s power that is at work within us (sincere believers in Jesus) we will never be shaken and God has already won the battle for us, each and every single one! So do not be discouraged in times of struggle but rejoice in the Lord that He is teaching you what you need to learn to be more like your Savior Jesus! Be strong in the Lord your God and sincerely rely upon Him and His perfect grace and His perfect faithfulness!
Proverbs 31:20 says that “She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. (KJV) Let us dive into the heart of the instruction we are receiving here. In this verse, we are instructed to sincerely love ALL people as God loves us in our Savior Jesus, by the power of the Lord our God within us in Jesus Christ our Savior! Now to do this we should remember that we are all imperfect sinners (Romans 3:23) and that includes you and I. We do not deserve the perfect love and the perfect grace of the Lord our God but that is exactly what we have received in our Savior Jesus! (Ephesians 2:8-9) We need to reflect upon the grace of the Lord our God that we have received in our Savior Jesus and extend mercy and sincere love to all of those around us, remembering that we ourselves struggle with our sinful nature. Praise God that in Jesus Christ our Savior none of our sins past, present, or future will ever be counted against us! (Acts 13:39, Hebrews 8:12) To sincerely love someone is, first of all, only done in Jesus because it is Jesus Who loves others through us, and, second of all, is to be humble in the Lord and honest with ourselves about who we ourselves are. Who are we? We are undeserving sinners who have been eternally redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus! Now let us aim to be faithful in sharing the love of our Savior Jesus with everyone around us!
Proverbs 31:25 says that “Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. (KJV) In the first portion of this verse we are reminded that all believers are clothed in Jesus! (Galatians 6:17) In Jesus Christ our Savior, we are clothed in strength! Jesus is our strength! As believers we are instructed and called to live our lives in a way that reflects the character of Jesus Christ our Savior. Jesus lives in each believer, as our personal Lord and Savior, and Jesus is our life! (Acts 2:38, Galatians 2:20, Colossians 3:4) The character of Jesus can be seen in us because it is Jesus Himself Who lives in us and shares His love and truth with all people through us. We are instructed to keep in step with the Holy Spirit Who lives within us in Jesus (Acts 2:38, Galatians 5:25) and as we do so we do in fact reflect the character of our Savior Jesus! So let us aim to sincerely reflect and display the character of Jesus our Savior Who lives within us! The second part of this verse reminds us that, as believers in Jesus, we can rejoice in the days to come! In Jesus, we are guaranteed a perfectly blessed future in which God works everything out for our good and His glory! (Romans 8:28) We have not a thing to fear! (Isaiah 41:10) I know this can seem hard at times to remember but let us not forget that our God is perfectly faithful even when we are not faithful! God is in control and He is working all things out for our good! Jesus has conquered all sin and death for us (Romans 8:1-2) and we are looking forward to an eternal future in Heaven with the Lord our God in Jesus! So be encouraged my dear friends! If you are in Jesus, then you have true joy for the future and you can, should and will rejoice in the Lord your God!
Proverbs 31:26 says that “She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. (KJV) God instructs us to speak with wisdom. We share the knowledge that God has blessed us with and we share His Word with others. We share the experiences that God has blessed us with in His sovereignty, grace and perfect faithfulness being honest about what we have learned in each experience, giving God the glory for every perfect blessing we continually receive from Him. (James 1:17) We discern in the Holy Spirit being careful to keep in step with the Holy Spirit. (Galatians 5:25) We share the truth about the perfect love and grace of the Lord our God and the true peace, hope and joy that we now have in Jesus our Savior! We are careful to sincerely love others in Jesus, we are merciful like our Savior Jesus and have compassion for people. We are honest about our continual need for our Savior Jesus not only for our eternal salvation but also in every single moment of our lives as we are unable to bring about the goodness God desires in us ourselves because we are sinners who desperately need their Savior Jesus! We faithfully instruct others in God’s Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17) with gentleness, love and respect while sincerely reflecting the character of our Savior Jesus by the power of God within us in His Holy Spirit in us! (1 Peter 3:15) All of this is done by the power of God within us so let us sincerely submit to the Lord our God and rely upon Him, trust in Him, and cling to Him and His perfect grace so that we can be rid of what hinders us and receive all that we need in the Lord our God! (Philippians 2:13, Ephesians 3:20-21) For God will continue to bless us with exactly what we need in each and every moment of our lives according to His perfect will! (2 Corinthians 9:8, Philippians 4:19)
Proverbs 31:30 says that “Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. (KJV) Let us continue to revere the Lord as our God sincerely submitting to Him, desiring Him and His will, trusting Him, relying upon Him, resting in Him, living for Him and His glory, humble and honest about our sincere need for God, honest about our shortcomings and our sinful nature and our inability to do anything ourselves! Beauty fades and favor can be lost but a person who reveres the Lord as their God and Jesus Christ as their personal Savior will be blessed beyond measure!
From this passage of Scripture we are encouraged to work fervently unto the Lord our God with the strength of the Lord our God! We are encouraged that God is our strength and He is the one Who makes us strong for our tasks! It is God Who blesses us with each task to complete and it is in our Savior Jesus that we have everything that we need to complete each task in a manner that is glorifying to God! (Ephesians 1:3) We go about each task working fervently unto the Lord in Jesus Christ our Savior, Who is our strength, and we are encouraged with the fact that God is always working all things out for our good and His glory! (Romans 8:28) In Jesus Christ our Savior, we will never be shaken and God has already won each and every battle for us by His power that is at work within us in Jesus Christ our Savior! We are reminded that, as believers, we are clothed in Jesus and He is our life and strength! (Galatian 2:20, Colossians 3:4) We are able to reflect the character of Jesus Christ our Savior by the power of God’s Holy Spirit Who lives in each believer! Let us pray that God will teach us to keep in step with His Holy Spirit in us (Galatians 5:25) and that God will continue to teach us to sincerely reflect His character by His power that is at work within us! We are encouraged that, in Jesus our Savior, we have true joy for our future and we rejoice in the Lord our God! We do not have to fear anything not even the days to come because God is working all things out for our God, (Romans 8:28) in Jesus we are conquerors and God has already won each and every battle for us by His power that is at work within us in Jesus Christ our Savior! (Romans 8:1-2) We are instructed to sincerely love ALL people as Jesus Christ our Savior loves us and we do so by God’s power within us! God shares His love and truth with all people around us through us and we are instructed to speak with wisdom and faithfully instruct in the Word of God while reflecting the character of Jesus Christ our Savior in us! Above all we are to revere the Lord our God as God and Jesus Christ as our Savior sincerely submitting to God, being honest about our sinful ways and our sincere need for our Savior Jesus in every way and every moment of our existence acknowledging that we cannot do anything ourselves! So let us go forth praising the Lord our God for Jesus Christ our Savior and let us sincerely submit to Him in every way, desiring to know Him more, to please Him more, to always do His will ALL by His power that is at work within us in Jesus Christ our Savior! (Philippians 2:23, Ephesians 3:20-21) Remember, the Lord our God is perfectly faithful, He is full of perfect, endless grace and love for you and I and all people and He will never leave you! So let us go forth boldly in Jesus, confident in Him, and let us faithfully love all of those around us by the power of the Lord our God within us! Let us live virtuously and fervently in the Lord our God!
Comments