A Challenge for Today!

Today I was reading Proverbs 31. 

In chapter 31 you hear of a wise Mama who vows with the Lord prior to having a son to raise Him to God's glory.  She even names her baby to honor God, Lemuel means *devoted to God.* She obviously has great influence over her son (who is King over the kingdom of Massa in Northern Arabia) and he in turn uses all he knows to influence what is put into his hands (with godly wisdom).

Then I moved on to the second half of the chapter where we learn of the noble wife.  Never once in the verses it speaks of her does it mention her physical appearance, but we learn that her beauty and attractiveness comes from her godly character. 

She has some crazy abilities which really can make you feel pretty flat in comparison, but remember we aren't supposed to really be reading this to gain feelings of defeat, but to be challenged to use our lives wisely for Kingdom purposes.  Sigh- what a relief, as honestly it has been a while since I made our clothes from the flax I grew or since I went an bought a chunk of land out of my earnings (to which I might add, the payment for homeschooling and child training is rather meager in terms of cash in hand).  

This noble woman is an importer, manufacturer, wife, mama, seamstress, farmer, upholsterer, and merchant.  But this isn't what is really important, it isn't her *do* (what she does), but her who. 

All she achieves is the result of her honor
and respect for God. 
  Challenging, huh?

We don't want to strive to do everything she is doing, but we should glean wisdom from her ways.  We can learn to be resourceful, be women of great integrity and pick up a few ideas on industry for our lives.  

If we dig in a bit more (time to chew the Word)...we can study her character a little closer.  We see she is not afraid of hard work, not afraid to push up her sleeves and do the job herself, she isn't slacking in how she approaches the minutes of her day, she fears (honors/respects) God, she loves and respects her husband, she is a woman of vision, she is an encourager, she cares for others, she has a heart for those who are poor, she is a wise steward of her money, and she appears to be full of energy (perhaps this is the only peek we get at her physically, as she is some powerhouse that just keeps going and going.)  Funny, it doesn't mention that she takes any super-vitamin supplements either, her power come totally from a life that is lined up with Him!

If we are up to the challenge we can learn to become women who honor God first, which in turn will lead to a life of enjoyment, success, honor and worth.  Sounds good huh.  Let's bow our hearts before Him and ask Him to help us be women known for our noble character too!

Father, we come before You thanking you for your Word.  Asking You to help us become the women You destined for us to be.  Help us not fall into discouragement (fear), but to rise up with the power of your Spirit who is within us. 

Lord, help us to get it right today with placing You first in our lives.  Help us to confess any sin that is keeping us from allowing You that place in our lives.  Show us how to honor You in all we do, help us in turn to bear the fruit in our lives that will lead others to see You moving in our lives. 

We ask for more of You and less of us.  Make Yourself bigger and allow us to see the transformation into becoming a woman of such godly character as the woman in this chapter of your Word. 

We thank you and ask this in Jesus' name, amen.