Mother's Day - Woman Of Wisdom Series

Wise Woman - Mothers’ Day

Proverbs 31:10-31

Introduction:

The Lord is good and his love endures forever. Happy Mother’s Day. (All mothers could stand and others can appreciate with a round of applause for their role).

Joke: Two mothers were discussing:

The first mother asked: How do you get your sleepy son to wake up in the morning?

The second mother said: I just put the cat on the bed.

The first mother asked: How does that help?

The second mother said: of course, already my dog is there. (Adopted).

The powerful 22 verses of the Proverbs 31:10-31 was a poem, composed by an unnamed mother of the unknown King Lemuel, describing a desirable woman. It is in the form of an acrostic poem; it has 8 stanzas, and lines beginning with the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet (Theology of work). It is all about a wife and a mother, the Jewish husbands and children used to recite at the Sabbath meal every week on Friday night (Life Bible Presbyterian Church & Constable).

According to Dr. Ilze Jansen (OT Theologian, South Africa), the woman in Proverbs 31:10-31 does not truly exist. She is a personification of the woman. She is a role model. Basically, a woman’s role was babysitting, childcare, and homebound. But she is a canon to judge women and their conduct, not only personally but also professionally. This woman portrays the way in which women should live while they are pursuing a relationship with God. Women should be inspired by these qualities and values, as well as be encouraged to emulate these desirable attributes. She is an inspiration for every woman to completely develop her individual and God-given potential. Many of its principles are actually universal and apply not to women alone but to men as well (Life Bible Presbyterian Church).

There are many dubious role models but she is a perfect role model. With little knowledge, the author of this sermon feels that Most women are abused, misused, and disused rarely used in many cultures and religions.

1. Her Personality (Proverbs 31:10-12, 30-31):

The Hebrew word “ishshah” was translated as woman or wife. The translators use various words to describe the character of this woman as virtuous (KJV), noble (NIV), capable (NRSV), good wife (RSV) Strong (Wycliffe), honest faithful (Geneva), valiant (Vulgate), courageous (Septuagint), manly (Greek), capable, intelligent (AMPB), worthy (ASV), competent wife (CEB), and perfect wife (ERV). She was a woman of purity and lovable, praiseworthy, woman trusted most. Her husband valued her and encouraged her, and praised her before all. She was beautiful not from her skin color but from her Purity and graceful acts (Proverbs 31:11-12, 28b-29). She was beautiful and wise. 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (Proverbs 9:10).

Sometimes both qualities may not go together. On some occasions, beauty ends up in problems and mere wisdom leads to arrogance and unemployment. Attraction usually occurs for two wrong reasons namely, friendliness and beauty. Favor is deceitful; it is a lie. Before marriage, they are agreeable, cheerful, friendly, and even submissive. But after marriage turned into a querulous tormentor. A perfect body often houses a deformed soul. Beautiful women may be haughty, flirty, selfish, lazy, and shoppers. The advice here is of great value to Consider it, understand it, remember it, teach it, and require it.

Beauty has a timeframe, disfigured by sickness, and disappears with age, soon gone. A man who sets sail on the beauty ship soon sees the vessel taking on water. The flower garden he chose for his life’s enjoyment is nothing but weeds. A beautiful woman without character is like a gold jewel in a pig’s nose (Proverbs 11:22).

2. Her Prosperity (Proverbs 31:13-14):

Her entrepreneurship is recorded excellently. She was a multifaceted woman; she was not an idle woman but an ideal woman. She was fully industrious and earned a huge amount. She was a woman with enormous work experience. She loved to make a home and extend the property with her wisdom. Some women play the role of breadwinner in the realities of unemployment and economic challenges. They face the barriers from the patriarchal society, still, they win in the end because of their determination.

She was a successful businesswoman, bought a field (Proverbs 31: 16a), was an entrepreneur who works late into the evening (Proverbs 31: 18), planned ahead (Proverbs 31:21), and who is not idle (Proverbs 31: 27). Her many wonderful qualities are thrift, industry, kindness, compassion, efficiency, business sense, discretion, discernment, true love, faithfulness, and all the other graces and virtues of true womanhood (Coffman).

3. Her Punctuality (Proverbs 31:15):

She was concerned about her family’s needs. She was punctual in feeding them and leading them to bed. She made sure of these important lifestyles. She was watchful over the household matters and persons. She clearly took care of her husband (Proverbs 31:11-12) and household (Proverbs 31: 15, 21, 27) and excelled at domestic activities (Proverbs 31:13, 15, 19, 22).