The Proverbs 31 woman.
On Saturday I had the honor of attending a very close friend's wedding. (Yeah, another one!) She is pictured here. I totally expected to have a great time and enjoy myself while I was there. What I didn't expect is how the wedding would impact me spiritually. There was a moment during the ceremony where the minister described what the bride, my friend, wanted in a husband. I, having known her, knew what that was already, but there was something about hearing it again at her wedding that made me think. The minister said that she "wanted a man who loved God more than he loved her." I knew that this guy was just the case. But then I realized something, that deep down, that's what I want in a wife. It was at that moment that I realized that I had set my standards lower. Thereafter, my mind raced back to a scripture passage that has become well known for its description of a godly woman: Proverbs 31. There it states that "charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." Once again, God's Word had confirmed what my heart was yelling at me. I felt like God was saying "David, don't lower your standards for a woman in order to meet some standard set by man that falls short of what I have for you." God had removed the veil from my eyes. That night, for the first time in years, I knelt by my bed to thank God for what he had shown me and just talked to Him for a while and proceeded to pray for some people in my life as well. Here, 3 days later, I still feel like I'm on the mountain.
I say all that to say this:
1. You have access to this level of intimacy with God everyday if you just take the time to talk to Him and read His Word.
2. Don't lower your standards for a spouse, but at the same time don't fool yourself into thinking that you deserve a spouse wrapped in a pretty package with all the trimmings.
3. Sometimes God humbles us before he can bless us.
4. Pride blinds us from the rewards God places right in front of our eyes.
I pray that God will work in your heart as He has in mine.
--DF
Good words David! Hold out for that Prov. 31 wife. She's worth waiting for.
ReplyDeletegreat words and advice. God has graced me with the most beautiful kind hearted wise woman. i could wish nothing more on you, when the time is right.
ReplyDeleteGod's been working the same thing in me recently. Don't settle, don't settle, don't settle, not because you're worth it, but because you need to run after God with someone who has the same heart as you, who longs to chase the glory of God, to sing it, to scream it, to dance in it, to weep in it. Someone whose life is that the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering, someone who yearns to live dangerously for the fame of Christ, even to their own demise.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, a sound "Amen" to you. :)