Proverbs 31 Woman: God’s Divine Calling For Women
To increase our revelation on the beauty of women, we must start from the beginning with God’s purpose for creating women.
Genesis 2:18 clearly speaks to the origin of women. God had already created the earth, the waters, the fields, the animals, the garden, and the man. Because I can imagine the brilliance of everything He had created, I found myself pondering this statement, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” I looked up that word for good in the original Hebrew and found that it means “beautiful, best, bountiful, cheerful, and at ease.” So God was saying—despite all the wonder He had already created, it was not beautiful, best, bountiful, or cheerful for the man to remain alone. Clearly, Adam’s life would not be at ease the way God intended it to be if he continued in that state. Wow. That sounds like quite an issue that God had to solve simply because His abundant love for man demanded the best.
To adequately resolve this situation, God needed to do it in His nature! Whatever any of us do or don’t do is done according to our nature, whether good or bad. For instance, chronically late people are late because that’s part of their nature. I have some people in my life who will not arrive on time to an event of mine unless I tell them it starts thirty minutes earlier than it does. I do this because I know they will approach my event in their nature—which is to be late. God is no different! Everything He does is according to His nature, including addressing this not good situation with His first man.
It’s ironic that we, as women, tend to feel like we are not enough when, in fact, we were created according to the very nature of the almighty God, who is not just enough. He is El Shaddai, the God of more than enough! We were God’s answer to a not good situation. In fact, once God made the woman, God beheld His creation and finally said it was very good (see Gen. 1:31). Did you see that? We were created to take not good and make it very good! That is the true beauty of women.
It’s no wonder the enemy invests so much time and energy into devaluing women. When I lived in Dallas, Texas, I daily drove down a particular freeway on my way to work that people often referred to as the “red light district.” Every day, I felt disgusted seeing horrible billboards splashed with half-naked women in suggestive poses. I often thought, Is this all we are worth? Why do we rarely see men being exploited on billboards, in movies, or in music videos? Why do men get a pass for extra pounds, wrinkles, or bald heads, while women are discounted for it? Make no mistake about it, Satan develops his tactics with purpose.
God had empowered Eve to transition the not good into very good. But she didn’t know Satan could reverse that power and use her to take the very good back to not good. That was never God’s intention for women, yet the enemy is desperate to pervert the phenomenal gift God built into women by strategically exploiting and tearing down the fabric and worth of a woman. You are not defined by the texture of your hair or the size of your body parts. You are more than just the color of your skin, the curves of your hips, and the stature of your frame. You are a queen who was created and equipped by almighty God! You are endowed with power from above. This world tries to define beauty by the outside appearance only, but don’t be fooled into selling yourself short. Your outward beauty is merely a celebration of the inward majesty given to you by God.
The Help?
In Genesis 2:18, when God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone,” His solution to the problem was, “I will make him an help meet for him.” Often, we get caught up on that word help. It is easy to read that word helper in a way that implies second-class citizenship. In actuality, the word help defines function, not worth. The more I understood this, the easier it was to identify yet another plot the enemy uses against women. If he can get us to reject our place as helpers, then he can succeed in cutting off the benefits associated with that role. As women, we must recognize that it is not an insult but an honor to be called a help meet.
This is true for several reasons. First, as helpers we are automatically thrust into the class of the Holy Spirit, who is the supreme Helper. When Jesus ascended to Heaven after His resurrection, He said it was better that He leave so that the Holy Spirit could come. That is a powerful statement that speaks to the gift that is the divine Helper. What a blessing it is to be in His class.
Second, being made as those who are called to help affords us an amazing set of skills. God will not call us do to something without equipping us with all we need to get the job done. For example, let’s consider a painter and his helper. The painter must have the grace to complete the task of painting while the helper may be called on to do a greater variety of tasks, like painting, cleaning, organizing, scheduling, and whatever else is required to help the painter accomplish the goal. That means the helper needs to have multiple skills to truly be effective.
Likewise, when a woman is walking in her purpose as a helper, she has access to the entire pool of the grace and the anointing of the heavenly Father. God opened the full catalog of His power to women to equip us to get the job done. It is no coincidence that women tend to be great multitaskers and can juggle many responsibilities and tasks all at the same time. That’s not by happenstance; that is by His marvelous design. So let me say this clearly: Don’t let negative challenges, situations, or circumstances get you down. Whatever comes your way, you have all that you need to overcome it available to you through Christ. Make no mistake about it, you were created to be a very powerful woman.
Now it makes a lot more sense to me why Satan would aim to shut Eve down. With all she was created to be, all she was empowered to do, she was truly a force to be reckoned with—just like you and me. I am convinced, if Eve had recognized all she was working with, she would have made a better decision. It all comes down to what you know. Although Satan tries, you don’t have to forfeit your crown and succumb to his destructive plans.
Women of Virtue
When I was growing up, my parents aimed to keep my brother, sister, and me in church regularly. I enjoyed the services at our church, but my favorites were the women’s group that my mother led. She called it “Women of Virtue,” based on the Proverbs 31 woman. As a result, I heard this passage on a regular basis. We even had jackets, shirts, bookmarks, notebooks, and other accessories designed with the virtuous woman theme. Now that I am an adult, I can admit that for the longest time I despised the Proverbs 31 woman. Each time I read about her, I inwardly rolled my eyes because she seemed like an unattainable dream that was used to make me feel bad about my shortcomings and failures.
Once, as a teenager, I was at the mall with a group of friends. One of my girlfriends was wearing a blue jean jacket that said Proverbs 31 on the back. One of the young men asked her to quote Proverbs 31. Naturally, she couldn’t. The young man obnoxiously responded, “You’re not a virtuous woman if you cannot quote it! You need to take that jacket off!” It was embarrassing, and I felt for my friend, but I couldn’t help but think, Ugh—as if it isn’t hard enough trying to be like this woman, now we must be able to quote her chapter too? This incident only served to strengthen my disdain for the Proverbs 31 woman.
Not until I was in my twenties did the Lord deepen my revelation about the Proverbs 31 woman. I realized she wasn’t an unattainable goal but a description of what God built into women. Early one Saturday morning, I was preparing to minister at our campus ministry at Michigan State University in Lansing, Michigan. As I was in prayer, the Lord gave me a women’s message called “The Glass Rose.” It was a very powerful message about the value of women, and I was honored that He entrusted it to me. He began to show me that every woman is created with the same grace and anointing revealed in Proverbs 31. It is a part of our makeup as helpers. I began to burst with excitement as I realized that this virtuous woman is a blueprint of the beauty of a woman who chooses to walk with God.
This revelation changed my life, and if you grasp it, I believe it will change yours as well. Every grace this woman possessed is attainable and available to you through Jesus Christ. He died to restore us back to how God intended us to be—women functioning with multiples gifts and anointings from Him.
