Proverbs 31:10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
The definition of virtue is strength. “Who can find a virtuous woman” can be rephrased as “who can find a strong woman?” According to the Bible, a strong woman is extremely hard to find. Since we know that she is so hard to find, we have reason to believe that what the world currently calls a strong woman is as far from the way that God defines a strong woman as it can be.
How does God define a strong woman?
In a previous article entitled “What is a Woman”, we looked at what a woman is by God’s design and through His eyes. Today we will look specifically at what God calls a strong woman, and counter some of the devil’s lies.
Have you ever studied what God considers to be a strong woman? Because our adversary the devil is always seeking to destroy and devour us (1 Peter 5:8), he has sown many lies to deceive the hearts of simple women. His attack on women is so great, that even women who are strong followers of Jesus are often ashamed and offended by His design! Ever since the garden of Eden when the devil first began his attack, he has tried to turn the hearts of women from their God! He has strived to make them believe that God is trying to hold them back from everything they could be, that His design is keeping them from something and His ways are not perfect. He has tried to make them believe that God is somehow against women or that the Bible is against women. From the garden of Eden, one of his greatest weapons of lies has been “hath God said?”. The biggest mistake women can make is to begin to doubt God, His words, or His ways.
We need to know how to refute the devil’s lies and lift up our sisters as we defend our God and His Bible. There could be a whole series of articles written disproving the lie that God is against women, but if women would just read through the Bible with a soft, open heart, they would see how tenderly Jesus loved and honored women and how greatly they loved and worshipped Him! Only an enemy could turn them against so precious a Savior!
1 Peter 3:3 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; 7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.
How is this verse against women? Peter tells men to dwell with their wives according to knowledge and to honor them or their prayers will be hindered! Peter tells men to give honor to their wives for two reasons, for being the weaker vessel and for being a future heiress of God. Women are indeed physically weaker than men because God has a different design for women. God has given women all the power and strength they need to follow the design He has for them. The strongest organ in any human body is a woman’s uterus which is fully equipped to grow and bring a new human into the world! That is some strength! Though women should exercise and be as physically healthy and strong as they can, physical strength, in general, is not their glory. Glory means honor. There is nothing worse than forsaking your own glory to walk in someone else’s which can never be an honor to you. Women will never have more glory, and never bring more honor to God, than when they walk in His design for them. Women will never be stronger than when they flourish in their own strengths. Women who are not following God or walking in His design are weak, no matter how strong they may be in the eyes of the world.
Proverbs 12:4 A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.”
We know that the strongest women choose to follow God and His design. As Christians, God also wants women to be morally, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually strong! To be their strongest, women need to know their strengths and weaknesses. Virtues such as empathy, nurturance, sensitivity, gentleness, sweetness, warmth, beauty, charity, humility, affection, tenderness, supportiveness, and being understanding, helpful, devoted, and kind, are feminine traits. These are perfect for their calling as women, wives, mothers, and homemakers. Men have special gifts in strength, courage, fortitude, independence, leadership, and assertiveness, etc. Men need these strengths to protect and provide for their families physically and spiritually. Both men and women should have the qualities of the other, but it will often take more work and patience to achieve them. When God tells us throughout the Bible to be strong, bold and courageous, He wasn’t just talking to men.
Was Jael weak when she hammered a nail through the temple of Sisera? Was Esther weak when she chose to save her people from destruction and said “if I die, I die”? Was Deborah weak when she stood beside general Barak and helped him lead the armies of Israel to fight against the Canaanites? Ruth is the only woman in the Bible said to be virtuous, and one of two (Ruth and Esther) to have a book of the Bible named after her. Ruth went with Naomi to a strange land leaving everything she had ever known to serve God! Naomi had lost everything, husband and sons! Ruth went with Naomi and took care of her, gathering food and being a companion to her. Boaz later said that all the city knew that she was a virtuous woman. Ruth became the grandmother of David the king, in the line of Jesus. These are some of my favorites, but read through the Bible with the question, how were these women strong?
Ruth 1:16 Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: 17 Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.
God gives to everyone strength and wisdom for their calling. He gives to men the wisdom and insight they need for their position of leadership. God never says women are inferior even intellectually, and wisdom is feminine in the Bible, though women do have a greater tendency to be led emotionally and be deceived.
Lastly, God wants women to be spiritually strong!
Ephesians 6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
We have to fight spiritually against the devil every day. That includes fighting against his lies specifically to us as women. We must hold up the scriptures, the sword of the spirit, and not let ourselves be deceived. We must build up our sisters in the Lord, and help them not to be led astray by the enemy. We must be daughters of Sarah, not afraid with any amazement. We must be confident in the love, goodness and ways of our God. We must be strong, as true Daughters of the King, and we must fight!
Proverbs 31:25 Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.
