Life is running in laps around me. No time to spit out the words that crowd my head.
Shari wrote about making mistakes and learning that she doesn't have to be strong. With Mother's Day around the corner it made me ask how does a woman show Godly strength.
Which made me dig an article out of the file that I wrote after sharing a woman's devotional on the topic of the Proverbs 31 woman.
Two
Virtuous Women...and Me
Heads
turn as a tall woman enters the marketplace. The fruit merchant
straightens his baskets of oranges in hopes that his wares will
please her. The
garment shopkeeper fingers
his money pouch. Maybe the woman is bringing more of her well-made
garments to sell. He will be quick to bargain for her products. At
the far end of the market, an old woman pulls her ragged shawl
tighter over her shoulders, and her face brightens at the memory of
past generosity from this woman's hand. A weary mother leans on her
broom, a concern lying heavy on her heart. She hopes that, as usual,
the woman will stop to share a few words of wise counsel.
Another
marketplace, centuries later, and another woman enters, but this one
garners little notice. A deeply lined face tells of years of trouble.
A dingy, patched robe covers her stooped shoulders. She carefully
makes a few small purchases, tucking vegetables into her basket.
It
was only at the far end of the marketplace when she meets a friend
that her head lifts and the sparkle is seen in her dark eyes. “Is
it true,” the friend asks, “that you are completely healed?”
“Yes!
Because of Jesus. He healed me with one touch! Praise be to the
Lord!”
The
old lady leaves the marketplace, still old, still poor, but with a
radiance that draws the attention of more than one bystander.
Two
women, one admired and the other pitied. We know the first because of
her skills and character. We call her the Virtuous Woman. Her
description in Proverbs 31 has inspired and frustrated generations of
women who seek to emulate her diligence, wisdom, and faithfulness.
The second lady we know as The Woman with the Issue of Blood, because
of her great need for healing. The first garners awe, the second
sympathy. But both were women of virtue and worthy of imitation.
According
to the dictionary, “virtue” is “moral excellence, a quality of
a person's character.” Proverbs 31 gives us numerous examples of
good character. As I read this passage, it is easy for me to become
discouraged by the description of a virtuous woman, especially on the
days when the children whine, a dish breaks, milk spills, tempers
flare—and I can't blame it all on the children. Is there hope for
me when I'm not
showing the attributes of a Virtuous Woman? Is this chapter only for
a few select spiritual giants?
In
the Scripture, the word used for “virtue” is also translated
“power or strength of the Holy Spirit.” Virtue isn't just what I
do, or what I am, but rather who I am—or better yet—Whose I am.
As God's daughter I can be virtuous, not through my own efforts—I've
failed often enough to know that doesn't work—but because of
Christ's power.
And
that brings us to the second woman. Mark 5 tells the story of the
woman who had tried for years to find healing. She had spent all her
money on doctors but had only become worse. (Sounds a little like my
efforts to be virtuous.) When this lady heard that Jesus could heal
and that He was coming to her town, she wanted desperately to
experience healing. But she was too ashamed to ask Him for it. In her
desperation, the lady managed to get near enough to touch Jesus' hem,
hoping to find relief.
Jesus
knew immediately that some virtue (that word also used for power) had
left him. In kind words to this broken, but now restored, woman,
Jesus said it was her faith that allowed her to experience
virtue/power in her life. Isaiah 40:29 says that “He giveth power
to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.”
A
confident woman exuding positive traits and
a desperate woman broken by years of shame and need—both
can
be virtuous women.
While I may long to be the first woman, I find
myself in the second woman's sandals most often. God's “strength is
made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor 12:9) Maybe it is less important
that I check off all the attributes in Proverbs 31 and more important
that I recognize my need for Christ and humbly ask for His power to
be a woman of virtue.
What about you?
