Following sermon was delivered at a dating and courting seminar which was held at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey in September of 1999. The preacher is Pastor Mitch Lush from the Grace Covenant Baptist Church in Westchester, Pennsylvania. This is the fifth in a series of sermons and is entitled, Characteristics for the Woman. Now I would recommend that In the little acrostics that I give to you, please do not try to use them in a Scrabble game. They won't work. The B-A-R-C, the genuine believer, the doctrinal ally, the competent relator, and the legitimate charmer, and in this section, We are going to come across a second acrostic, which is wisdom, ending wisdom with an e. I know wisdom doesn't have an e. Don't use it in the Scrabble game. The reason, one of the reasons why I've sought to bring the material together in a way that is perhaps more easy to keep in our minds is because of something of the design here even in Proverbs chapter 31. It is in Proverbs chapter 31 in verse 10 through 31 that we have 22 verses, one verse each for each of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. If we could read it in the Hebrew text, you would see that verse 10 begins with Aleph, verse 11 begins with Beth, and Gimel, and on down through the rest. It is plainly here an effort to make this material accessible to young men, not only those who have a copy of the scriptures in their hands. But they, when there are times of meditation, could go through their ABCs and think of what kind of character they should be looking for. Proverbs 31 in verse 10. Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her, so he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life. She seeks wool and flax and willingly works with her hands. She is like merchant ship. She brings her food from afar. She also rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and a portion for her maidservants. She considers a field and buys it. From her profits she plants a vineyard. She girds herself with strength. and strengthens her arms. She perceives that her merchandise is good and her lamp does not go out by night. She stretches out her hands to the dista and her hand holds the spindle. She extends her hand to the poor. Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for her household for all her household is clothed with scarlet. She makes tapestry for herself. Her clothing is fine linen and purple. Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them and supplies sashes for the merchants. Strength and honor are her clothing. She shall rejoice in time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom and on her tongue is a law of kindness. She watches over the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also and he praises her. Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all. Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates." In this hour, we want to focus first of all on the root of her character. We will We have, in the past hour, focused upon something of those key universal traits. For both the young man and the young woman, we want to see that they believe that they are the doctrinal allies, that they know something about relating, that there is a legitimate charmer there. And in this hour, we want to focus on those characteristics that are found in the young lady, and the next session will be focusing upon those characteristics to be found in the young man. Concerning the root of her character, Roman numeral I, there is, first of all, a dual disavowal in noting the source of her character. Where does it come from? Well, the writer here, whether it is Lemuel, whether it is his mother, there is an emphasis here that it does not come from this and it does not come from that. Proverbs 31 and verse 30, we read the words, charm is deceitful and beauty is passing. But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. First of all, There is the disavowal of deceptive charm. Charm is deceitful. Charm has the original sense of grace, gracefulness, having favor with another. Deceptive speaks of the disappointment that arises from falsehood and betrayal. And what the writer here is emphasizing is her character, wherever it comes from, it is not rooted in her charm. She may be pleasing. She may be attractive. There may be something of a very kind disposition, but the charm, though it is not necessarily evil, it is not the root of her character. But secondly, there is the disavowal of the breath-like beauty. Beauty is passing. Beauty. We know what that means. Vain. Comes from the term breath. It's Solomon's term when he uses there, breath of breaths. Vanity of vanities. And he says, her beauty is passing. Her beauty is like the breath. It's like a puff of air. It's not going to hang around forever. We heard that quote in the last hour. The young man saying, when I see this attractive young lady and I can't even think straight. I need to calm myself down, think what she is likely to look like in a few decades. So it is passing. It is a beauty that is associated with breath. Now mere physical beauty is passing. It does not have a lasting significance. It is elusive. And here we are to understand her character is not rooted in her charm, her ability to make us smile, and her character is not rooted in her skin, her bones, and her muscle tissue. But we understand these words in the context of the Hebrew language. Now, one of the difficult things in handling the Scriptures is being honest, to pull together the different emphases of Scripture together and say, well, whatever they mean, they've got to mean this together. In the last hour, we heard of something of a legitimate charmer. And I begin this hour by telling you that there is a place, there is a sense in which charm is deceitful. It can be deceiving. And if we were to look at this passage in and of itself, then we might argue that the physical attractiveness in the relationship doesn't mean anything. But I urge you to consider these words. in the context, the larger context, of the Hebrew language. In Luke 14, 26, there is another example of absolutes used for relatives in comparison. Our Lord says, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, in his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Our Lord there is giving something of this Hebrew absolute for relative. Our Lord is not saying that you absolutely must hate your parents, that you absolutely must hate your children, that you must absolutely hate your brothers and sisters. What are you saying? Comparatively. When you think of loving me, whatever relationship you have with anyone else here on earth, It's as vastly different as love is to hatred. There is nothing as supreme as the love that you must have for the Lord Jesus Christ. I suggest it is still appropriate to say, that in our little bark outline, the legitimate charmer, there is a place for this physical attraction. Elegance is right here in this chapter, if you let your eyes go back there to verse 22. She does not set out to make herself unattractive. She doesn't have this notion that everything about charm and everything about beauty is a curse and it's disgusting in the eyes of God. Verse 22 says, she makes tapestry for herself. Her clothing is fine linen and purple. The elegance is right here just verses before. But the emphasis is this. In comparison to the fear of God, which is the true root of her character, This pleasingness of her personality and this beauty in her physical appearance, they are relatively nothing in comparison to the fear of God. All right? It is an absolute used for relative in a comparison. But secondly, be having looked at a something of the dual disavow notice with me be the simple common Old Testament essential source of her character. Simple common Old Testament essential source of her character. The textual statement is the woman who fears the Lord. A summary definition of the fear of God is having ripe views about God, an all-pervasive sense of God's presence, and an all-pervasive sense of obligation to God. The New Testament correspondence to this fear of God is found in 2 Corinthians 7.1, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 1 Peter 1.17, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear. There is a reverence that we have to have for God, right views concerning this person, a sense that wherever I am, God is with me, and a sense that wherever I am, I'm obligated to obey God. The writer here in Proverbs 31 is telling us, this is the kind of stuff that you need to find in a young lady. You are to expect reality, though not perfection, in this biblical piety. Here, I believe it's Matthew Henry that says, Proverbs 31 is the looking glass. It is the mirror. by which the young woman is to address. She puts on these various attributes and looks into the mirror of Proverbs 31 and says, is this in my life? Is that there? Here is a standard, perhaps, for the young man Lemuel to value, to evaluate character. And now we come secondly, Roman numeral two. Having looked at the root, we come secondly to consider Roman numeral two, the particulars of her character. And now I engage the rolling eyes and the whispered pleas. Wisdom. Wisdom. First of all, A, her practical wisdom. We see it in verse 26. She opens her mouth with wisdom. Wisdom is a skill in living for the glory of God. Bezalel was one who was full of wisdom, and it was the kind of wisdom that helped him in the constructing of the tabernacle. He knew how to use the gold. He knew how to use the silver. He knew how to bring together this tapestry. There was a skill in living, a skill for him in building the tabernacle. And for you and me, wisdom is a skill in living. We now know how to live in God's world. Proverbs 9 and verse 10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs 15, 33, the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom. Where wisdom begins is with knowing who God is and having the sense that he's always present with me and having the sense that I'm always obligated to him. That's where wisdom starts. And how do you cause wisdom to grow? Well, you keep bringing the fear of God to bear on it. The fear of Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility. You see, this young woman is not a flighty, shallow person who lives in her bubble world of the moment. She's learning from the book. She's learning from others. And she is such an individual that her peers are coming to her for advice. She opens her mouth in wisdom. She has a skill understanding life. And because of that, others come to her. This is a very capable woman, Proverbs 31 is. A very capable woman who lives her life in conjunction with and submission to her husband out of righteous principle and not out of the dire necessity of needing somebody to think for. Adam, when he found Eve, when he saw her, He knew that she was his equal. Equal in the sense that having looked upon all these various other animals, he saw there was no one for him. Here is his equal. And the Proverbs 31 woman is a very capable woman. There is her practical wisdom, W. But there is secondly, B, her enterprising industry. Her enterprising industry. Note the categories of her work. There was her domestic work. And under her domestic work, we can see the clothing, verse 13, verse 19, verse 22. We can see her domestic work in the food, verse 13, verse 15. We can see something of the domestic work even there in the formation of character, verse 28, in the formation of character in her children. It doesn't just happen. that kids grow up and start commending their mother. That's reflective of character that is worked in. There is further, not only her domestic work, there is her agricultural work. Verse 16, including her real estate purchase. There is in verse 18, her cottage factory work. Verse 18, verse 24, there is her benevolence work. She didn't give it the office, but her hands are personally stretched out to the poor. Benevolence work, verse 20. There is something of the spectrum of her work, the categories of her work. But consider as well the manner of her work. She's other oriented. Verse 15, verse 20, verse 21, verse 27. She's not focused merely upon herself. It says there in verse 15, she also rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and a portion for her maidservants. Man, if I had a maidservant, most of us would reason, I wouldn't be providing the food for them. They'd be providing the food for me. But whatever is involved in that, there is this other orientation for even her maidservants, her family, her husband, her children. We find that she is diligent and disciplined. Verse 15a again. She rises while it is yet night. We find that she is diligent and disciplined. The latter part of verse 18. Her lamp does not go out by night. We find further that she is diligent and disciplined. Verse 21. She is not afraid of snow for all her household is clothed with scarlet. She is a woman who is capable of planning. She is a woman who knows what comes in December. She knows that, and because of that, she's thinking about it back in August, and preparation is made. She is a satisfied woman in her work. We see that in verse 18. She perceives that her merchandise is good. Now, notice with me how different her work is from the career woman of modern feminism. where the focus is all out there. You've got to be somebody, and your career makes you somebody. Different in the kinds of work that the feminist will do, as opposed to this virtuous woman of Proverbs 31. Different in the focus of her work. What are you doing, wasting your life there on your home, thinking about this one and thinking about that one? Get out and make something of your life. Titus 2 in verse 5 tells us that the older women are to teach the younger women, and among that list, discreet, chaste, homemakers. That is, more literally, home workers. Good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemy. This is not a young woman who stays at home because she does not want to go out and work in the world. who stays at home to watch soap operas. There's nothing wrong with cottage industry. I support it. I applaud it. But what kind of work ethic are you looking for, young man, in that young lady? Was I supposed to be looking for work ethic? Yes! It's a part of the acrostic, and how many times is it underscored here in Proverbs 31? There is this diligence that is there. Young lady, what kind of work ethic are you developing? Well, we have seen W, wisdom. We have seen the I of wisdom in her enterprising industry. We come thirdly to see her emotional strength. Now, verse 25. Here's the statement of the text. Strength and honor are her clothing. It's not a prom dress. It's not her once-in-a-lifetime special dress. It's just the everyday normal dress of life. Strength. She's clothed with strength. The sense of the word is strength, might, power. And we can ask young ladies, what are you becoming? Young men, what are you looking for? Are you seeing that there is something in this young lady that you're considering? An ability to rise above the difficulties and circumstances of life. A power over the changes of temporal circumstances which easily shatter and bring to ruin a household resting on a less solid foundation. Is there this strength of character there? Why are they so up and down and so back and forth and so whimsical that there is no strength? Bridges comments, Christian courage and resolution lift her up above appalling difficulties. The Lord gives her hope. Now this is the opposite of the young lady who was unwilling to accept difficulties. Let her know, let her begin to feel something of difficulties and next thing you see is the headphones are on and she's out there somewhere trying to pretend that the real problems are not going to be there whenever she has to pull that headset off again. There is the unwillingness to stand on principle. I think of this as being illustrated in the experience of one of our young men who told me, I heard second or third hand actually, of a situation where he was downstairs waiting for his date to come down. And as he waited, he got a distinct sense that there was a problem with her hair. You can imagine the situation. Here he is, waiting downstairs, and he can hear this stuff going on upstairs. And with the help of others, It was one of those little incidents that helped him to see that this is probably not the way that he wanted to go through life. Go through this problem, and it's... and through another problem, it's the same thing, and you just go from one calamity to another. How different is the character of the two Margarets among the Covenanters? It's been a while since I've read this section, but there were two Margaret's. One old, let's say she's in her sixties, and one young. The Covenanters are standing on the principle that the Lord Jesus Christ is the head of his church. And if it means that you're going to kill me, I'm not going to relinquish my belief that the Lord Jesus is the head of the church. And so they take the Margarets, put them there at the seashore, take the older Margaret and tie her to a pole that is further out, closer to the water, and the younger Margaret is tied to a pole closer in. Obvious what they have in mind. As high tide comes in, the younger Margaret sees the older Margaret killed, They are hoping that she will break down. She will renege on her commitments and they will have a victory. Both Margaret's stood firm. Strength is her clothing. It's the everyday part of her existence. Not that special occasion dress that every once in a while she puts on. but it is the normal character of her life. But we come from having considered then something of her practical wisdom, her enterprising industry, her emotional strength. We come to the D. D on your sheet, her merited dignity, her merited dignity. Now, here we're looking again at verse 25, and the term here is strength and honor. Honor is our word. or her clothing. The word originally means that of ornament or decoration, and then it comes over to honor. And so it seems to be spoken that here is a grace that is found in this young woman, this older woman. And in this woman, there was an honor and a dignity of her person. And it's a graphic picture. It is like, you know, on Mother's Day in the little country church like where I grew up. On Mother's Day, the oldest mother The grandmother's got the most grandchildren. All of these go. You got the Cassis and the Claces there in the same church. And you know, either my grandma Cecil's going to get it or her sister Ethel is going to get it. But they're going to get the corsage. And it's like the badge of honor. And that's something what our text is talking about. There is this badge of respect that comes by faithful consistency. She's not a babached, but she is clothed in honor. This reminds me of a pastor friend who has spoken to his son, saying, son, you don't fall in love, you fall into holes. And there's some truth to that. Here it is with this whole thing of a merited dignity. If you go on the emotional subjectivity that, when I was in her presence, I just knew, and once we kissed, and once he held me tight. You know, there's all this emotional subjectivity that is involved. How do you know if someone has honor? It is a merited dignity. That is only something that you can assess over the course of time. seeing her in this situation and seeing her in the other. It is the opposite of the hypocrite who talks one thing and lives another. We cannot respect such. There is not a badge of honor on the one who talks and does not carry through with what they say. For that one who is self-centered, self-absorbed, she may be cute, but does she earn your respect? Is there a badge of honor? Or is she the one that when she's having a bad day, everybody's going to know about it? There's a pimple on her face. Everybody knows about it in the house. There's high humidity and it's a bad hair day. Everybody's going to know about it. No. Young men, look with Lemuel for this kind of character. strength and honor. We've seen her wisdom, her industry, her strength, her dignity as a badge of honor. Now, notice with me, E, her Christian optimism. Again, verse 25, but now the latter portion of the text. Her Christian optimism. Here's the statement of the text. In the ASV, it is rendered, and she laugheth at the time to come. The New American Standard renders it, and she smiles at the future. Our version has, and the New King James has it, she shall rejoice in time to come. But it's interesting in the Hebrew that it is originally a sense of laughing with scorn. It's used to the wild donkey in Job 39 in verse 7, he does not heed the shouts of the driver. The range of the mountains is his pasture and he searches after every green thing. There is this scorning. of the tumult of the city. Here's a donkey who doesn't want to be in the city, and he just runs off. Forget about it. There he is in Job 39, in verse 19, the war horse. He's getting ready to come into battle, and this is not the horse that is saying, I think with all the noise over there, we ought to be going over this way. But here's the war horse, and the language is, he mocks at fear. He is not frightened, nor does he turn back from the sword. He paused in the valley and rejoices in his strength. He gallops into the clash of arms. He mocks at fear. There's our word. Now, this is speaking of a young woman who laughs at the future in some sort of carnal sense. A carnal disregard for anything that will happen. Let's party because tomorrow we may die. No, this is a God-fearing young woman. She is wisely planning, diligently working, But she's not preoccupied with her fretful worrying. In all of her work, in all of her organizing, and the longer we live, we can find these balance of traits as standing out in their uniqueness. That somebody is organizing and working and diligent, and yet when things don't go quite her way, she can smile at the future. But with his graphic language of a war horse pawing, wanting to get into the fray, he mocks at fear. She laughs at the time to come. She smiles at the future. Now, early on, such a woman has begun to find the balance between human responsibility and God's kind providence. She knows what it is to work, and yet she knows that God rules over all of her plans and all of her efforts. Grace has come and strengthened the natural timidity of her femininity. But this plainly is not a problem magnifier. You've met them. Whatever happens, whatever is going on, the first thing that you do is reach in and get your biggest magnifying glass. And if you're going to have a problem, there's no sense having a problem without magnifying it a few times. Make it bad. Reality is, there's a little old me and this huge, getting huger problem, and God's locked out of the picture. No, here's a woman who's smiling at the future, because God's in the picture, and God's in control. And this is a Christian optimist. What shall we say then to these things? If God is worse, who can be against us? The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion. This wonderful blend of traits. found in the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31. Her wisdom, her industry, her strength, her dignity, her optimism, and now F on your handout sheet. Her gracious manner. Her gracious manner. Verse 26, the latter part. She opens her mouth with wisdom and on her tongue is the law of kindness. The Torah of Chesed. The law. It is a law. But it's the law of covenant mercy. It's the law of mercy. It's the law of kindness. Here's a woman who is an organizer. She's got everything going. This is what's going to happen. She's a worker. She's very industrious. And yet, as she talks and interacts with people, the amazing thing is she has the law of kindness on her tongue. She's not bossy. and arrogant, as a take-charge woman often is. This is the opposite of the hard gal, cold and unfeeling, uninterested in the feelings of others. It's the mean spirit, the mean streak, angry and vengeful. No, these are the opposite of the gal here who has the law of kindness on her tongue. For us, we've done a review of the feminist movement and observed something of the arrogant disposition of feminism where there's the viewing of man as this little mutation that has come along, what we refer to at Westchester as the mutant little male. There is this disposition against it. but recognize that our culture is taking little girls and hardening them into competitive, driven beings that must succeed at any cost. And young men of our generation are far too passive, while the young ladies are being made far too aggressive. But here, observe the biblically balanced portrait. competent, accomplished and accomplishing, diligent and disciplined, and yet not hard and callous and insensitive. Her concern for others is seen. Her hand goes out to the poor. It is seen in the law of kindness on her tongue. Wisdom. Wisdom, industry, strength, dignity, optimism, her manner, and now, gee, her fitting elegance, her elegance. We know quickly from the text that she does not regard it a spiritual duty to look dowdy. Proverbs 31 and verse 22. She makes tapestry for herself. Her clothing is fine linen and purple. I Peter 3 and verse 1 and following. Yes, there is to be that preeminent focus upon the character. Verse 3, do not let your adornment be merely outward. Rather, let it be the hidden person of the heart, the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 9, there is not to be the preoccupation with the braided hair and the gold and the pearls of the costly clothing, but there is the modest apparel, propriety and moderation. But there may be something of a pendulum swing even on this issue. We look in the world and we see all of this preoccupation with the dress, with the appearance, and all the seductive influence that is involved in that. But let us not forget the balance here of Proverbs 31 and verse 22. She makes tapestry for herself. Her clothing is fine linen and purple. Now, it's not here a warrant that every woman now has a right, based upon this text, to have three new outfits every month. We must recognize her husband is one who sits in the gates and she is one who has been blessed in her various cottage industries. But there is this fitting elegance. Thirdly, this morning, having considered something of the root of her character, some of the traits of her character. Notice with me, thirdly, the result of her character. This gal is going to have a boring life. That's what the world will tell us. But consider with me, first of all, her blessing to her children. Her blessing to her children. They are blessed under her care, her instruction, and her example. What a wonderful thing to have a God-fearing woman whose character is exemplary, like a lighthouse in the mind for years, for those privileged children. I honor the memory of my late mother. Despite weakness, The main thing that comes to my mind is how she is, a lighthouse of character, and facing this and facing the other. I still remember, I was probably in third or fourth grade, doing rather well in school, and her discussion was not to buff me up, but to caution me against any motivation towards cheating. What a wonderful thing. took away in any academic competition any motivation in the direction of, whatever it takes, you got to do it. You got to have those A's. I was not even tempted to cheat after that. I don't know that I ever was. Facing hard, hard decisions. When we want to dismiss the hard way, But we end up thinking the example of a lighthouse mother. You don't even consider the easy and sinful way out. They bear witness, the children do, the sense of their privilege, verse 28. Her children rise up and call for blessed. Now there may be a few rare situations where children just, in and of themselves, out of the goodness of their own hearts, will be those who are not self-centered, but will be very grateful and very expressive of their appreciation. It is my experience that most of that has to be taught. But there is something of the benefit that comes from that. Now, I'm not saying that this mother goes into it and frames the character, raises children who are grateful and appreciative, so that one day they'll stand up and say, oh, mom's a great mom. No, but there is a sense of gratitude that is found in these children. They rise up and they call her blessed. These are children that do this. Now, young man, where are you going to get this kind of mother for your children? Now, I know, I am very confident you want your children to have this kind of mother. Isn't it true that even the guys, that in their worst fantasies and their thinking of a sexual fling and so on, they might think of this kind of gal? But when they think of who they want to be raising their children, who they want to be molding the character of their children, they want somebody with character. They want a sense of ballast in the ship of their home. And that sense is right. A sense of a lighthouse safely directing to avoid the killer rocks in the nighttime of trial for the family. That's what he wants. Where are you going to find it? But not only is there something of her blessing to her children, there will secondly be her blessing to her husband. Her blessing to her husband. Proverbs 31.10, Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts in her, so he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life. Young man, unless you're in very unusual circumstances, and unless you are very unusually keen and perceptive, I doubt that you have a clue as to how important it is to have a wife that you can trust. There are times when I wish that I could take young guys with me into the emergency room there at Brandywine Hospital. Come in and visit a guy that I've been involved with in marriage counseling. Pull the curtains back and try to talk to this guy who is now gray in his appearance and there's still the charcoal on the side of his face that they had to pump in because he was trying to kill himself because of the betrayal of his wife. It will be an unusual young man sitting here today who knows how important it is to having a wife that you can trust. Now, it goes both ways. And some of you, I fear, will find out by the hard knocks of life. You may not be in the Brandywine Hospital emergency room with charcoal on your face, but you'll see the pain, the not heeding, the importance of character in a young lady. There's this horrible sense of hurt and betrayal of one who is not faithful and one who is not trustworthy. A devastating sense of loss as if someone died, except it's worse than someone died. The ache of remorse and of foolishness. This gal may be cute. But if her character is such that you're liable to wondering if you should kill yourself in the hurt of the betrayal, then let her go. Proverbs 31 is talking about an exemplary woman married to an exemplary man, though. Young men, please don't read this passage as some men tend to read this passage. Here, dear, this is what you need to be. You heard a preacher? You heard a preacher on that point? As if she's to be the perfect woman married to the very imperfect man. Oh, but we pass over that. Now, many daughters have done well, but here's her blessing to this husband. He is one who recognizes her character. Here is one who is in the gates. But he says concerning his wife, many daughters have done well, verse 29, but you excel them all. Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Here is a man who is communicative where it really counts. Not buttering her up because he wants to get something, but expressing reality, and paying her her due respect. But thirdly, see, consider how this woman is a blessing to herself. If we met this woman, we'd say, Lady, you do a lot of work. Lady, you do a lot of work for others. Is it worth it? And she says, well, my children stood up and called me blessed, and there seems to be some reality in that. I say it's worth it. My husband has brought this commendation to me and that has been deeply touching and very moving and it carries me along. But even more than this, notice with me in verse 30. Verse 30 goes on, charm is deceitful and beauty is passing. But the woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. The inspired writer goes on to say in verse 31, give her the fruit of her hands and let her works praise her in their gates. This kind of woman you can't just ignore. There's got to be this commendation that comes. Blessed is the woman who embraces her God. Blessed is the woman who embraces who she is before her God. Blessed is the woman who embraces her equal dignity in creation, her equal depravity in sin, and her equal redemptive privilege in the Lord Jesus Christ. The believing woman will be praised, not merely by her sensible kids and her sensible husband, but in the last day she will be praised by the God of all the universe. Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Let's pray. Father, there is a sense in which we come to after our consideration of Proverbs 31 feel as though the consideration of the text was too quick and too shallow. And yet we do plead with you, Lord, that you would take the things that we have considered out of the passage and that you would bring it particularly to these young women, these older and help them to make it to be a looking glass, a mirror by which they dress their own character. And our Father, we pray that you would fix in the hearts and minds of the young men, of perhaps even older men who will be widowed and face something of these issues in the future. Fix in their minds these words that come to Lemuel for the kind of objective character that is to be found. Lord, help us to be biblical and balanced in our thinking. We ask this in the name of your Son, who willingly came and died in our behalf, to forgive us of our sins and to transform our lives and to transform our thinking. Amen.