The Value of a Woman Who Fears God means that she values her faith more than her physical beauty. Her thoughts and purpose are focused on what pleases the Father and emulates the Son.
**Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.** Proverbs 31:30
**Favor is deceitful**
The Value of a Woman who fears God is also not found in her search for good friends, or the desire to fit in. These can distract her and deceive her from the real goal of pleasing the Lord in all things.
The human need for popularity, or to be accepted, or liked can trip up any one human being. It can draw our hearts away from the One who is our only true Friend. They can move us off center from the only One whose favor is truly worth seeking. The Lord’s approval is really the only opinion of us that really matters.
** Beauty is vain**
If we read the entire chapter of Proverbs 31, we can see that only two verses talk about the virtuous woman’s physical appearance. Most all of the other verses talk about what she does, who she is, how she treats others and how she uses her hands to be a help to others.
Verses 21 and 22 are the only ones that do talk about her and her family’s outer appearance, but in a sense of need not a sense of attraction. Their clothing does reflect her skills and labor as well as her foresight of caring for their needs. Because her skills are developed and honed through years of experience in creating marketable items, her family also benefits from her talents.
Nowhere is it mentioned what this P31 woman looks like. Is she tall, short, skinny, chubby? Neither her race or her nationality are ever discussed. Is she gorgeous or plain? We do not know. The Value of a Woman is not based on physical attributes.
History’s obsession with beauty and youth has been the downfall of many women through the ages. Bathsheba warns us against overly pursuing it or depending on it for our happiness. Remember what Bathsheba’s attractiveness got her in 2 Samuel 11?
‘Beauty is vain’ sends us the warning that our physical appearance is fleeting, and can sometimes get us into trouble. Women should not depend on it to gain friends or fame. Any 21st century actress can tell you the high cost of having to make her looks a priority for the sake of popularity and fame.
For the rest of us, the idea is to not get trapped into popularity contests. Nor to be overly consumed with our physical appearance. Both have their benefits but neither will ever satisfy long term or are able to be maintained over time. There is something better, something more valuable…the value of a woman is based on her relationship with the Lord. Her value is measured by her priorities and commitment to the Creator. We will talk more about this in our next post.
The Value of a Woman Who Fears God is far above the price of rubies.