Fear the Lord
Hello Friend!
I love the way that Jen Wilkin opens her book None Like Him. She leads with a quote from Proverbs 31, then says this: "If you had told me five years ago that I would one day write a book for Christian women that led off with a quote from Proverbs 31, I probably would have punched you in the face."
Well then. Don't hold back now, Jen.
I completely understand where she's coming from. There is perhaps no passage that is referenced so often when it comes to women. I daresay that most of us will hear it in Mother's Day sermons at church. Proverbs 31 has become a sort of Christian cliché, and as such, it's lost a lot of its power.
But God has a sense of humor, I suppose, because last fall, one of my editors assigned me to write a set of devotions on, you guessed it, Proverbs 31. I wasn't the least bit excited about the assignment, but the more that I read and studied the passage, the more my excitement grew.
Contrary to popular belief, the woman in Proverbs 31 wasn't perfect. She was only human, after all. The thing that set her apart wasn't her work ethic or charitable giving (although those were certainly commendable). It was her fear of the Lord.
She feared God, and she ordered her life accordingly. Why did she work hard? Because she feared the Lord. Why was she generous? Because she feared the Lord. Why did she serve her family so diligently? Because she feared the Lord.
Do you get where I'm going here? God doesn't expect us, nor has he called us, to be perfect. But he does expect us to fear him. That's why we've chosen Proverbs 31:30 as our verse of the month.
"A woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."
—Proverbs 31:30
Scripture tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. What, exactly, does that mean? We'll be spending this month exploring exactly that. Together, we'll figure out what it means to be a God-fearing woman in this day and age. I hope you'll follow along and join the conversation on instagram or facebook!
Until next time, grace and peace.
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Leslie Ann Jones
Leslie Ann is the founder of Muscadine Press. She lives in small-town Mississippi with her husband and daughters. In addition to running Muscadine Press, she writes and teaches Bible studies at her home church and enjoys the privilege of speaking and teaching at women's events from time to time.