Diamonds Aren't Forever

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Well, it's appropriate on this occasion of Mother's Day that we take a look together at a passage of Scripture that lays out the great priorities of what it means to be a woman of faith. We have the example of those kinds of women around us, really in a previous generation.

Last fall, as you know, I had the opportunity to join my nine siblings at home to celebrate the ninetieth birthday of my mother. As I was there, I had the opportunity to read again a poem that she wrote in her Bible before I was ever born that sort of encapsulated the reason she lives. It's still there, and as I read it, I've made a copy of it, so I could share it with you. It's called "The Mission".

Lord, I begged, give me a mission some great work to do for thee.

Lead me to some noble task that men may find thy love in me.

Even as I prayed, my children crowded round my bended knee.

Why I wondered does the father overlook my urgent plea?

Surely, he desires our efforts, poor and humble, though they be.

Could it be in His great wisdom, He'd already answered me?

In my long and fevered searching, I had been too blind to see

what the father, wise and loving and His plans, would have me be.

Faithful wife and gentle Mother, molding lives, my destiny.

That was the mission of a past generation of Christian women. But today, many Christian women have been influenced toward a different mission by the culture that's all around us. We have had provided for us a continuous stream of images that women are told that's what you should pursue. That's the goal you should endeavor to be. And the culture has provided us in the last fifty years a constantly moving target. We have seen the image of what a woman ought to be changed over and over and over again all the way from Mrs. Cleaver to Mrs. Clinton.

If you're a Christian and a woman, what should matter most to you is not that you're matching the target that the culture sets for you, but that you're becoming the kind of woman that God honors.

And nowhere in Scripture is the role of that kind of woman developed more fully and completely than in the passage that I want us to examine this morning, and that's Proverbs 31.

Proverbs is a great wonderful book. We've looked at it before just to get a glimpse of its greatness. God gave us the book of Proverbs to give us the details of life. If I could encapsulate the purpose of the book of Proverbs, the reason it occurs in the canon of Scripture. It would be this. In the book of Proverbs we have, set before us, how to live in the details of life in a way that pleases God.

You find everything from not speaking too loudly in the morning, which some of you would do well to read that Proverb, all the way to the end of Proverbs, where we discover what the virtuous woman is really like and everything in between.

I should begin this morning by recognizing the fact that on a day like this on Mother's Day, there are some ladies among us whom God in His providence has not seemed fit to bless Him in that way. That's God's best for you. Don't look down on yourself or allow anyone else to do so. This is God's plan for you. He has a way for you to serve Him in the condition in which you find yourself.

But as we go through this passage, I think it's true that without exception every woman who's here this morning will find an example, a pattern to follow in whatever your circumstances of life, and so I hope that you'll follow along with this classic poem about the virtuous woman. Proverbs 31:10 to 31, 22 verses, gives us an anonymous poem about the woman of excellence. As I said, we have no idea who wrote it, but it is one of the classic strains of Old Testament poetry, beautiful in its composition, profound in its meaning.

Notice how he begins in verse 10. He says, "An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels. (Literally an excellent woman, who can find?) Notice, this woman is called excellent. The Hebrew word that's translated "excellent" is a rich word. It's often used of men in the Old Testament, and when it does, it's most frequently in the phrase, a man of valor or a mighty man of valor.

The word refers to someone who is known for his or her virtue; for their strength of character; for their skill and ability; for their courage; for their worth; for the honor that they command by their very presence. It describes a heroic figure of Homeric proportions, a true hero. This word "excellent" is difficult to translate with a single English word. The word excellent is not a bad attempt, but I would suggest to you that perhaps a better translation would be the word "noble". This is a woman of nobility.

It's interesting that there's another woman in our Scripture that's called this. It's Ruth. In Ruth 3:11, Boaz says to her, Now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you whatever you ask, for all my people in the city know that you are a woman of excellence, a woman of noble character.

The Proverb says that such a woman is hard to find. In fact, Proverbs tells us that the only way to find such a woman is to receive her as a gift from God. Proverbs 19:14 says, "House and wealth are an inheritance from fathers, But a prudent wife she is from the LORD."

When a man finds this kind of woman, he'll quickly conclude with this poet that she is truly more valuable than jewels. You see diamonds aren't forever, but this kind of woman is. You know it's interesting. The only other thing that Proverbs describes as being more valuable than jewels is wisdom itself.

In Proverbs 3:15 and Proverbs 8:11, We're told that wisdom what proverbs is designed to give us is a value far beyond jewels, as is the virtuous woman. A godly wise woman is worth more than the rarest and most costly of earth's commodities.

I was fascinated this week to discover that even in the richest deposits of diamonds, three tons of earth must be mined and crushed to find one carrot of diamonds. In the same way, the excellent wife, the woman of true nobility is also extremely rare. Oh, there are plenty of cubic Zirconias, plenty of cheap imitations, but there aren't many of the real thing.

But ladies, the fact that she's rare (the fact that this kind of person is rare) doesn't mean that you should stop trying to become this kind of woman. It's interesting, in the original language in the Hebrew. These 22 verses are an acrostic poem. That means that each verse begins with the next successive letter in the Hebrew alphabet.

The reason for that was it was in a day when people didn't have printed copies of the Bible in front of them. To have an acrostic like that was a great help in memorizing. That meant that women who feared the LORD were expected to memorize this passage. What that says ladies is: God intends that this description of the virtuous woman, however rare she may be, serve as a model for you. God intends that every Christian woman pursue this ideal. And what an incredible high standard it does set. Let's look together this morning at this beautiful description of the noble woman.

The poem investigates all the parts of this woman's life, and it ends up painting a complete portrait of the kind of wife and mother, the kind of woman, that God honors. The first part of the poem examines her marriage, verses 11 and 12. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life. If you had to summarize the nature of this woman's relationship to her husband, you could do it with this one essential quality: she is trustworthy.

Verse 11 begins the heart of her husband trusts in her. You see trust is absolutely essential in any human relationship and especially in marriage. And this woman, by her actions; by her attitudes; by her disposition; by everything that she does inspires unwavering confidence in the heart of her husband.

Whether you're talking about the quality of her work; the volume of her work; whether you're talking about her careful stewardship of their financial resources; or whether you're talking about what goes on in her heart, he knows that this woman is trustworthy that she is totally committed to him and to their marriage.

The second half of verse 11 says he will have no lack of gain. Literally, he will have no lack of spoil. It's a word that's used in military conquest. In other words, the gain that this woman brings to him will be as rich as the spoils of war.

Because of her contribution in the marriage, her husband lacks nothing. Now the next verse explains to us why this woman is so trustworthy. It's because she always acts in her husband's best interest. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.

You see this woman is entirely devoted to her husband. She doesn't think of herself but of her husband's interests. This shouldn't be just true of the wife, by the way. We learned, when we were going through Philippians, that this is to be the attitude and disposition we're all to have toward each other.

Remember Philippians 2. As Paul laid out the requirements of that church and of us as well, he says, in verse 3,

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves, do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

A very basic underlying principle of any good Christian relationship is when the people involved are looking out for the interests of the others, and that's exactly what this godly woman does. Her life is centered on her husband and his interests.

Let me ask you, does your husband have complete implicit trust in you? Have you by your actions and attitudes in the past caused him to come to a place where he has absolute unwavering confidence in who you are and what you will do?

Are you committed to always act in his best interest, to do him good all the days of your life? If you want to be a woman of excellence; if you want to be a virtuous woman; if you want to be a woman of nobility, then this must be the nature of your marriage if you're married. When you examine the marriage of the woman of nobility, you will always find that she is completely trustworthy.

Now notice the second part of her life that the sage examines here. Moving on from her marriage, he notes her daily activities in verses 13 and continuing all the way down to verse 24. These twelve verses lay out what consumes an excellent wife's time and energy day after day and week after week. Now, the picture here in these verses you'll get is of a large household that requires a great deal of supervision. In New Testament terms this woman is the house despot, the ruler of the house and a great house it is.

Now, when we look at these specific daily activities of the woman of noble character, let me just remind you that we live in different times. Ours is not primarily an agricultural society. Hers was.

We enjoy many modern conveniences that simplify the daily responsibilities. She didn't, and so there are some clear differences. And so, as we examine her daily activities, in addition to focusing on the specific activities that she consumed herself with, I want us to try as well to identify the larger principles that flow out of this passage that are timeless that should be the daily preoccupation of every woman of excellence.

This section verses 13 to 24, divides itself into four stanzas, and each stanza provides a general timeless principle that should govern every godly wife and mother's daily choices.

Let's see if we can mine the principles that are here in these verses. The first principle is this. She spends herself in tireless labor for her family. She spends herself in tireless labor for her family, verses 13 to 15. My wife sent me a note during the music this morning to ask me to define tireless. Tireless does not mean ladies that you will never be tired. In fact, exactly the opposite is true. It means that you expend yourself when your energy's gone, tireless labor for your family. The emphasis of this stanza is not just what the woman of virtue does, but how she does it.

Notice verse 13. She looks for, literally, she searches for, she cares about wool and flax. Now the fibers from flax were made into linen, and so both of these are materials that were used to make clothes. She searches far. She's diligent to find the raw materials out of which to make clothes for her family. You and I are so spoiled. We don't even have to search for the finished product, much less the raw materials. All we have to do is get in the car and decide whether we're going to Walmart or to Dillards, to Sears or Sacks.

But in the time that these proverbs were written nearly a thousand years before Christ, this woman had to search diligently just for the raw materials from which to make her families' clothes.

And based on verses 13, 21, 22, and 24 where this issue keeps coming up, buying the raw materials; making thread; making cloth; and finally sowing it into a garment occupied a great deal of this woman's time.

Verse 13 adds, She works with her hands in delight. Now, I'm not going to bother you with the details of the process of converting wool and flax to thread as I read this week, but let me just tell you this. It was extremely tedious, and yet we're told here that this woman did it with delight.

I want you to think of something ladies that is an utterly tedious chore for you, something that you would just as soon not do. If you're like my wife, perhaps it is the washing and folding of laundry, an endless mindless task. I don't think there's a woman with the same mind who enjoys that process, and if you do enjoy it, you may want to get checked.

But whatever it is; whatever routine activity it is that seems tedious to you; think of that activity for a moment, and then think of yourself choosing to do it as she did, with delight. Verse 14, she is like merchant ships. She brings her food from afar. It's an interesting image here in the ancient world and even in some underdeveloped countries today. Shopping for food is an everyday duty. Notice, I said ladies, shopping for food.

There were some ladies in the first hour who took this as an endorsement of everyday shopping of any kind. This is shopping for food. In Solomon's time, gathering and keeping food was a very difficult proposition. You only ate what was in season. There was no refrigeration. There were no preservatives, and so everything you've got spoiled quickly, and without some serious work, there would be absolutely no variety in your diet. You would have eaten only those crops that were grown locally nearby and only those in season.

Wednesday night our family went out to Cafe Express over here in South Lake Town Square, and as we were sitting there, Sheila and I had salads with various vegetables and some chicken on top, and our girls had some spaghetti, and one of them, of course, had the ever-present chicken fingers. And as we ate, we talked about what would have had to have happened three thousand years ago to have had that same meal.

And the truth is as we sort of recounted all that was involved and all the different ingredients and the fact that none of them are available at the same time of the year or in the same place. We realized that for all practical purposes it would have been impossible to have had the meal we had the other night just a simple meal until a hundred years ago when refrigeration and transport became more of a reality.

We are so spoiled; but this woman in spite of her circumstances; in spite of the difficulty; she gave herself to her family's care, she was diligent. The noble woman isn't content to serve her family meat and potatoes, or hamburger helper or whateveris easily acquired.

By the way that's not a criticism of hamburger helper. It's okay ladies. My point is the noble woman is diligent on behalf of her family. She spends herself tirelessly for their good. She's like a ship that sails to distant lands to buy and sell so that she has the best for her family.

Verse 15, She rises also while it is still night And gives food to her household And portions to her maidens. The portions here are probably not assignments. This word is usually used in reference to food, so it's probably best to see or hear as: providing, making sure that everyone in her house is fed. She's the first one up each day. You get the picture of a woman who is extremely industrious. She gives herself, expends herself tirelessly for the benefit of her family. If you want to be a woman of excellence, a woman of nobility, then you too must choose to spend yourself in tireless labor for your family, or if you don't have a family, for those around you.

The second principle we learn from our daily activities is that this woman demonstrates financial wisdom with her resources. In the second stanza, we see that she demonstrates financial wisdom with her resources, verses 16 - 18. There are no foolish purchases or encroaching indebtedness here. Verse 16 says she considers a field and buys it, and from her earnings, she plants a vineyard. Here's a woman who carefully weighs the pros and cons of a real estate investment, and then, after careful reflection, she decides to purchase it.

But it's not simply about a real estate investment. You see this woman is not only thinking to the future that this piece of land that she buys. It is going to appreciate in value. Some day she'll sell it and make a profit. While she has the land, she wants to put it to use. She has a plan to make it produce revenue now, and so she chooses to reinvest some of the money that she's made in other ventures to plant a vineyard in the field.

What an incredibly financially wise woman. She not only is increasing her assets, but at the same time she is building a new income stream to help support the family until the land is sold.

Verse 17, she girds herself with strength and makes her arms strong. Literally, the text says she girds up her loins. This is an ancient expression. In those times, of course, women wore flowing robes, and when they were ready and needed to, they would gather those robes up into a bunch and tuck it into their sash at their waist. They did that in preparation for serious work. This woman knew what it was to work hard. She makes her arms strong.

Verse 18 says she has learned from experience that hard work pays off. She senses that her gain is good. Her lamp does not go out at night. Now that last expression (her lamp does not go out at night) may be a reference to the fact that she burns the midnight oil.

But I think it's more likely a reference to the lamp that was in the house all night every night in a Jewish home that signaled that everything was well; that the house was flourishing, and there was no calamity. You can see a reference to such a lamp in Job 18:6 and Jeremiah 25:10 if you want to look those up at some point. In other words, this woman says all is well in my house. The night light is on if you will. She was a woman who exercised herself in her whole use of her time to the financial profit and benefit of her family.

Let me ask you ladies. Are you financially wise? Do you encourage your husband in saving and investing, or do you lead or support the rush to spend everything you get? Do you spend only the money you have, or do you live at the outer edges of your credit card limits? Do you always swallow up every pay increase with some new thing, or do you purposefully live below your means so that you can be generous not only with your family, but with others in need? You see the godly wise woman is someone who understands the big financial picture and who doesn't squander her money or her resources. She's a financially wise person.

There's a third principle that comes to us in the third stanza here that flows out of her daily activities. It's this, she makes generous provision for her dependents, verses 19 - 21. In verse 19 it says she stretches out her hands to the distaff, and her hands grasp the spindle (now the spinning wheel as we know). It was not invented until the sixteenth century, but there was an ancient simpler version, essentially it was a rock and a stick. And this allowed them to produce thread from which they could then make cloth, and she gives herself to this.

But I want you to notice the similarity between verse 19 and verse 20. She extends her hand to the poor, and she stretches out her hands to the needy. Now the coincidence in the wording of those two verses is too similar to be a coincidence. Obviously, the poet planned it for a specific purpose. You see, the point in these verses is that when this woman stretches out her hands to the distaff, she is stretching out her hands to the needy, and when she extends her hands to the spindle, she's reaching out to the poor. In other words, she works hard, but all of her diligent labor is not about her.

She's working so that she can help others even beyond her family who are in need, she ministers to the poor and to the needy. At some point we'll look together at what the Scriptures teach about the importance of caring for the poor and the needy. You know, I think in our culture we've become jaded to that responsibility because so many have taken advantage of it, but that doesn't lessen our obligation or our responsibility, and this woman understood that, and she gave herself not merely to looking out for her family and ultimately for herself, but for the needy as well.

Verse 21 says that she also provides well for her family. She is not afraid of the snow for her household for all her household are clothed with scarlet. Now, it doesn't snow often in Israel, so probably the reference here to snow is a picturesque way of reminding us of the winter of the fact that there is genuinely cold weather. And in those days they had no insulation for their homes. They had no tiebacks, no weather stripping. They didn't have other places they could go. There were very few public buildings, and so, when the cold came, they were constantly exposed to it. But this woman didn't worry about that because her family, her whole family was dressed in scarlet. Second Samuel 1:24 tells us that that's luxurious clothing.

But there's also another possible meaning to this expression. The Septuagint translators (when they were translating the Hebrew Old Testament) understood these consonants that are here translated "scarlet" to be instead the word "double".

If that's true, if that's a correct approach to this word, what the poet means here is that her family all have double thick garments to keep them warm. She's prepared for the winter. Either way she has given herself to care for her dependents. If you want to be a noble woman, then you must use your time and your energy, not just for yourself, not to just consume on who you are and what you want, but to make generous provision for your dependents or for those around you over whom you can't exercise care.

The final principle that we can learn from this woman's daily activities is in the fourth stanza, verses 22 - 24, and it's this: she displays an obvious excellence in everything. She displays an obvious excellence in everything she does. Verse 22, she makes coverings for herself. Now the words "covering" here may refer to bed linen It does earlier in the book of Proverbs, but probably not. It probably refers to clothes because of the nature of Hebrew poetry and the parallelism.

This is probably a reference in the first part of the verse that matches what's in the second part, and so we're talking about her clothes. You see only after this woman has cared for everyone else, then she works hard to dress herself in the finest of clothes. Notice the end of verse 22. Her clothing is fine linen carefully. Taken from the flax to produce the very best and purple. The implication here is that she made these garments herself with the finest of workmanship and with the finest of materials.

Why purple? Well in the ancient world to die a garment purple was very time consuming and very expensive. That's because the only source of dye for purple came from a small shellfish in the Mediterranean Ocean, and in each shellfish you would find the most minute amount of this die substance. Of course, they had no way to commercially harvest those shellfish, and so this was a tedious and expensive task, and yet this woman gives herself to it. Purple was the color worn by the rich and famous in Luke 16:19 we're told that the rich man was dressed in purple. It was the color of royalty, even from the time of the judges. So, what's the story here? This woman works hard, after she's cared for everyone else, to dress herself in an excellent way. The excellence of her work would be obvious to everyone she met, dressed in purple and fine linen.

Verse 23 is the first we really learn of her husband. We're told that her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. It's hard for us to fully comprehend the meaning of this because our world is so different. Let me give you a little feel for the gate.

The gate was the center of a town's life. Even in an agrarian society, it was common for the farm laborers who worked out on the farms outside the city walls to come in and sleep inside the city walls each night, and so most of the men would go through the gate every day twice a day. The gate was the place for meeting others. The gate was the place where all the markets were held. It was like our modern mall or town square. And in particular, in reference here, the gate was a place of legal tribunals. You remember the confrontation that happened between Boaz and the other close relative there in Ruth 4. It happened at the gate.

So, a see among the elders in the gates as he's described here means a position of high honor. Her husband was probably a judge or an elder of the city, and how did that happen? Well, the implication here is that it was her reputation that helped give him that position.

The commentator … writes, "It is assumed by the people that the head of so well-ordered a household must be a worthy man." I understand that personally, I often refer to Sheila as my better have. In fact, I'm not convinced you would have had me come as your pastor if it hadn't been for Sheila. This is what this woman does for this man, her reputation propels him into a position of honor. In Proverbs 12:4, we're told that such a woman is her husband's crown. That is, she brings him honor by the very person that she is.

Verse 24, she makes linen garments and sells them and supplies belts to the tradesmen. You see this woman not only works hard enough to clothe her family; to care for the poor; for herself, but she even makes enough to sell, and what she sells becomes well known so that the traveling tradesman want it. This woman is known for her excellence.

What an amazing woman. But when you look at her daily activities if you back up and look at all that we've learned from verses 13 - 24, it seems to me that what stands out about this woman and her priorities is that she unselfishly lives for others. She lives for her husband; she lives for her children; for her servants; for the poor. She is consumed with serving everyone else in her life. And she doesn't do it half-heartedly either, but she does it with excellence. Does that describe you?

Listen, you may not have this woman's life; you may not have her natural abilities or skills; you may not have her resources; you may not be part of a wealthy family; you may not have her husband, but you can serve others exactly as she did, and you can do it with excellence to the glory of God. That's the priority that consumed her days, her weeks, her life.

So, we've seen her marriage. We've seen her daily activities. Now let's look at her character. As I read verses 25 - 27 watch the qualities that we're told characterize this woman. Verse 25,

Strength and dignity are her clothing, And she smiles at the future. She opens her mouth in wisdom, And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household, And does not eat the bread of idleness.

Did you see the qualities that distinguished the noble character of this woman? First of all, her moral and spiritual strength and dignity are so much a part of her character that she wears them as a garment. She's also characterized by faith. Notice she smiles at the future.

That doesn't mean she has some sort of proud self-confidence. Instead, the idea here is that she has done everything she can like the ant. She has stored up for the winter, and now she puts her trust in God, and she can smile at the future.

She's not quick to speak either. She doesn't talk a lot, but when she does, when she does open her mouth, her speech is characterized by wisdom and thoughtfulness. And "the teaching of kindness" literally "the law of kindness" is on her tongue. In other words, she is not a domineering harsh-spoken woman. In the words of Titus 2, she is at the same time a worker at home and kind; tremendous character. Verse 27, she's also given to diligence, but as this verse says she looks well to the ways of her household. Luther translates that "she looks how it goes in her house".

The picture here is of a diligent watchman on a city wall, looking in every direction for approaching danger, and what is this woman, scrutinizing the ways of all those who are in our household? The word "ways" is a great Hebrew word. It's a word that implies a well-worn rut. Let me just paraphrase it for you. She is constantly scrutinizing. The habits are the predictable patterns of behavior of everyone in her household because she's deeply concerned about them. She's absolutely diligent, ever vigilant about everybody in her household and how they are, how they really are. She's like a watchman on the wall, constantly observing approaching danger in any of their lives.

So, as verse 27 ends, when this woman eats, she's earned it. She never eats bread gained by idleness. She's given over to diligence in her life. You see that the noble woman is a woman of noble character. She pays attention to her soul.

Do you spend as much time on your character as you do on your home? Are you as diligent to work on your heart? As you are diligent to work on your face? Do you work as hard at decorating your soul as you do at decorating your body?

Listen to Peter in 1 Peter 3. Your adornment must not be merely external, braiding the hair and wearing gold jewelry or putting on dresses nothing wrong with any of those things. But that isn't where you should be preoccupied. He says, Instead, let it be the hidden person of the heart. That's where you spend your energy. That's where you're to expend your effort, the person that you are, and he goes on to say with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit.

Become a woman of character. You want to be the noble woman; you're going to be a woman whose character is noble.

There's a fourth reality in the wife of a noble Christian woman. We'll call it her praise. Verse 28, her children rise up and bless her. Now to rise up doesn't mean to grow up. That's what I used to think this meant when I looked at it years ago, but I want you to understand that isn't what it means at all. "To rise up" describes a sort of formal declaration. It's as if someone were seated here on the stage, waiting for their turn to make a speech, and then they rise up to speak.

You see her children don't just tell her how much they appreciate her, but they're eager for others to know, and they bless her. That is, they pronounce praises to others about her. Verse 28 goes on to say her husband also is eager for others to know about what a wonderful wife he has. Her husband also, and he praises her, saying "Many daughters have done nobly, but you excel them all." To help you get a sense of what he's saying in this public speech, he's making … (Let me paraphrase.) His words for you in essence, says this, there isn't another woman on earth I'd rather be married to. I understand that feeling.

Listen ladies. You want your children and your husband to praise you like that. You want them not only to tell you how much they appreciate you, but to be so consumed with the woman that you are that they want to tell others just how great you are. You say you know I'm sitting here, thinking how do I get there? Perhaps as you've listened this morning, you've wondered how could I ever become a woman like this? Well as the Chinese proverb says, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step."

What's the first step to becoming this kind of woman well notice, lastly her spiritual life? Her spiritual life verses 30 and 31. Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised. Give her the product of her hands, And let her works praise her in the gates.

I love this, the writer of this magnificent poem, as he concludes, lists three common approaches that women throughout history have taken with their lives, and men tend to look for one of these approaches in the women that they pursue. Notice the approaches in verse 30.

There's personal charm. Some women give themselves to this.

Secondly, there is physical beauty, physical beauty.

And then thirdly genuine spirituality, a woman who fears the LORD. And notice that each of these approaches has a predictable end.

Personal charm, he says is deceitful. In other words, it can all be clever marketing. She may not at all be what she appears to be. The presentation she gives may be a lot different than the reality.

You see this in Proverbs 5:3, where it says the lips of an adulterous drip honey. She's smooth, she's charming and smoother than oil is her speech. She's great at selling herself, but when you buy, you don't get something worth a thing, not worth a dime. It's all clever marketing. Personal charm is deceitful.

Notice, he says, physical beauty is vain. That means it's fleeting. It doesn't endure. Not only that, often what's inside doesn't match the wrapper. You think you're getting an Almond Joy and you get a Milky Way instead. You see the beautiful people seldom are.

There's a third approach, a woman who fears the LORD that is, who is genuinely spiritual, watch her in "she shall be praised". Praised by whom? Well, obviously praised by her husband. We see that here: praised by her children; praised by all who know her, but that isn't the most important part of this. You see the most important issue here is that this kind of woman will be praised by God Himself.

She is right here in this passage from the time it was written a thousand years before Christ. Generations of people who worship the true God, and you and I today sit here and look at this woman and say, "Wow, now there's a woman who fears the LORD." She is being praised, even as I teach this passage to you this morning.

This kind of woman is praised in the rest of Scripture as well. You come to first Peter 3:4, and there Peter tells us that the right kind of woman is precious in the sight of God, incredible statement.

But God doesn't simply praise such women in His Word. We're also told that He will praise such women at the judgment. Listen to 1 Corinthians 4:5. There we're told at the judgment each man and each woman's praise will come to them from God. Imagine that, standing at the judgment seat of Christ and hearing Christ Himself, praise you for the virtuous noble woman that you have become now. There's something, ladies, worth living for. She shall be praised.

Are you a woman of nobility? Are you an excellent wife and mother? Let me urge you to do something this week ladies. Every one of you take some time this week to get aside to get outside the rat race. Whatever your rat race is whether it's serving as a soccer mom or a limousine service, or whatever it is. Take time away from your routine and your schedule and take a long hard look at your life and your priorities and ask yourself this basic question. Does it look anything like what God honors in a woman who fears him?

If not, let me challenge you to discard the culture's ideas and to set a new course. You need to embrace the mission: the mission of becoming a noble and excellent woman, even as it's outlined here in Proverbs 31, because that kind of woman will be praised not only in this life, but in the life to come.

Let's pray together.

Father what an incredibly high standard you have set for the women of our church. Lord, I pray that you would work in every heart. I ask, Lord, for those women who are in Christ, but have to freely admit that this is not the picture of their lives. Lord, I pray that they would, even this week, get alone with You; repent in their hearts and before those who love them, and set the course to pursue this goal.

Father, I pray for those ladies who are part of our church who have begun to pursue this goal and are pursuing, and I pray that you'd give them continued resolve, a strengthened energy to pursue this with all of their hearts.

Father, I pray for us as men, particularly as husbands, that you would keep us from sinning against our wives from doing anything that discourages them from pursuing this goal. Lord, don't let us be a roadblock or hindrance to their pursuit of You, and to becoming the kind of woman who fears You and whom You honor.

Father, I pray finally, for the person here this morning who doesn't know You; who hasn't come to know You through Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord, in a way that I would never, can never fully understand, I pray that You take this message this morning and bring them to repentance and faith. Help them to see that they don't fear You like this woman did, and help them to bow the knee to You and to Your Son.

In whose glorious Name we pray, Amen.