A meditation by PJ

Proverb 31:30

“Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.”

This verse challenges much about our culture, because we live in a world that prizes charm and beauty (not only in women, but also men). Our society, I think it is fair to say, is superficial. For proof, look at what sells and what people desire – not character, but cosmetics, not the internal, but external. For this reason, this verse is all the more important to emphasize. So, what is the chief quality that is praised in this chapter? As I see it, the quality is farsightedness (31:12-18, 21-22, 27). The woman here provides for her family and friends, even considers and buys real estate, and because she is so prepared, she is able to help those who are in need.  Moreover, this quality of farsightedness, unsurprisingly, brings trust (31:11), dignity (31:25), and praise (31:28, 31). In a word, we can say that she is wise.

From another perspective, I wonder why the book of Proverbs ends with this chapter. There probably is not one answer, but it seems to me that the wife of excellence is a personification of wisdom. If this is so, the message may be: find this wisdom and marry it. Embrace it and make it your own. And the place to start is the fear of the Lord, just like the book has been saying all along.

To take one more step, can this personification of Wisdom be really pointing to Christ, as the wisdom of God? 1 Corinthians 1:24 points in this direction, where Christ is the wisdom of God.  If this is a correct way of viewing things, then what we really need is the mind of Christ, or Christ himself.

What, then, ought we do? To put things in context, do not merely think about the present and what we need to do immediately, but also think about the future. Use every moment as a gift of God’s grace and make the most of it. Think about how we can be a blessing in the years to come, or even the decades to come, or even better yet when we are no more. Think about what is happening in our world and pray about how we can meet future challenges with strength, love, and grace. This is to be wise, to be like Christ, who saw the problem of sin and did something about it on the cross and thereby demonstrate the wisdom of God.