How Can We Fear Our Lord?
Written by Sarah Ann E.

 

 “Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman that fears the LORD, she shall be praised” (Proverbs 31:30). What does this verse really mean? Let us look at the meanings of some of the words taken from the American Heritage Dictionary.

Charm is “the power or quality of pleasing or delighting; attractiveness."
Deceitful is “given to cheating and deliberately misleading.”
Beauty means “the quality that gives pleasure to the mind or senses.”
Vain means “not yielding the desired outcome; fruitless.”
Fear is an “extreme reverence or awe, as toward a supreme power.”
Praised is “expression of approval, commendation, or admiration.”

Let us paraphrase this verse, to see it in a different light. “The power of pleasing and being attractive is cheating and misleading. The quality of giving pleasure to the mind and senses is not a desired outcome and fruitless. But a woman who has an extreme reverence for the Lord is given approval and admiration.”

What point is this verse trying to get across to us as ladies? Let us take the first sentence of our paraphrase. “The capability of pleasing and being attractive is cheating and misleading.” We, as ladies, like to please others and be attractive, and we have the capability to be attractive. We strive to have every hair in place, our make-up done to perfection, and our clothes in style. Yet, what is this verse saying that these things are. They are cheating and misleading. But why? Am I supposed to go around with messy hair and look like I just got out of bed? No, our bodies are the temple of God, and we need to take care of them. But, this verse is saying that striving to be attractive is cheating and misleading, or we can say being tricky.

The next paraphrase sentence is “the quality of giving pleasure to the mind and senses is not a desired outcome and fruitless.” It is a characteristic of a lady to have beauty. The Lord made us that way. Why can’t we possess the quality of pleasing others with our beauty? It does not have a desired outcome and fruitless. “Wait a minute.” “I cannot help that,” we say.

Now, we all are left with questions in our mind. Why can’t we have charm and beauty? We are not at the end of the verse yet!

A woman who has an extreme reverence for the Lord is given approval and admiration. Notice that fear means an extreme reverence. The key is that our life must not be focused on attracting and pleasing. Our focus must be placed on having an extreme reverence for our Lord. Reverence means to have “a feeling of profound awe and respect and often love.” In fearing our Lord, we show Him our love.

Do we have extreme reverence for our Lord or is our relationship with Him just like another relationship? Does He mean all the world to you or do you go through the day not even thinking about Him? Your answer to these two questions can greatly determine whether you have great reverence for your Lord or not.

Ruth feared God and returned with Naomi to serve Him instead of her native gods. “But Ruth said, ‘Do not urge me to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16). Ruth was willing to leave all to follow Naomi and serve God. Are we willing to serve and worship our Lord, no matter what? No matter if our friends are not following Him, no matter if we are looked at as different, and no matter if we have to endure suffering for Christ?

We are all to be ladies who extremely reverence our Lord above all else. How can we do this? Foremost, we can show we have fear for our Lord by spending time at His feet daily. We honor Him by making Him top priority in our life. We can also show others that we reverence Him by standing up for what is right, by speaking of Him throughout the day, and by serving Him whole-heartedly. Others will notice if you have a servant’s heart or not.

We need to take the qualities of the virtuous woman and apply it to our lives. We want to be known as godly women who possess the characteristics of a virtuous woman. As we go through out our day, let us remember to be trustworthy, diligent, strong, kind, and fearing our Lord.

 

 

 

 

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