Praise for the God-fearing Woman

Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates. Proverbs 31:30-31

The Book of Proverbs is often attributed to King Solomon. Although King Solomon is named as the author of most of the proverbs recorded, there are two other authors identified as writers who contributed to the book. One of those authors was named King Lemuel. Since he is identified as a king, then it is believed that he was a non-Israelite contributor. It should be noted that King Lemuel attributes the wisdom in his writing to the prophecy of his mother. There is much that can be said about that, however, we won’t address it at this time. If any person knows a woman’s character, undoubtedly it would be another woman. I believe that it would do us well to observe carefully the words of King Lemuel. As he ends his writings, which end the Book of Proverbs, he describes a praiseworthy woman. The writings certainly bring into question our society and those we choose to honor and praise for all of the wrong reasons. We have beauty contests at all levels to select someone to be honored and to represent us locally, at the state level, nationally, and even globally. We tend to admire people that are well connected in society. Again, we honor those who know how to network and become a part of the “in crowd”. But these things are quickly dismissed as the wrong indicators of those who deserve to be praised.


I. Deceitful Favor (There’s more to life than being a part of the “in crowd”.)
A. People can Pretend to Like You
B. People can Pretend to be Your Friend
C. People can Pretend to have Your best Interest at Heart

II. Vain Beauty (Your looks are an insignificant part of who you are.)
A. Exterior Beauty can Attract but not Keep
B. Speech says more than Looks
C. Actions speak louder than Words

III. Characteristics of the God-fearing Woman
A. She is Enterprising
B. She Shows Good Judgment
C. She is a Wise and Loving Counselor
D. She is Respected by Others
E. Her Works are a Testimony of Her Character

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. On the sixth day, God created Adam in his own image and after his likeness and placed Adam in the Garden of Eden to take care of it. On the seventh day, God rested from all his work. We are not told if it were the second week or sometime later but God observed Adam and said, It is not good that the man should be alone. God took great care in rectifying man’s social situation. He did not hurriedly create a helper for Adam. Instead, God brought all of the beasts of the field and fowl of the air to Adam. Adam named each one but there was not a helper found that was fitting for him. That’s when the first human surgery was done. God administered a divine anesthesia that caused Adam to enter a deep sleep. Then he removed a rib from him and sutured the flesh. With that rib God fashioned a woman and brought her to Adam. Adam recognized her as his own flesh and said that she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Since that day, there have been as many women born into the world as there have been men. Like men, some have excelled in character and some have not done so well. When sin entered the world through Adam’s disobedience, it did not discriminate between genders. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But God ordained that there would be a remedy for our sin condition. The remedy would not involve man at all but it would come by way of the seed of a woman. One of those praiseworthy women was Mary from Nazareth of Galilee. Nazareth was a place of which the question was asked “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Mary was a good thing. She feared God and thereby became a vessel to bring forth God’s only begotten son, Jesus. Like Mary, who came from humble beginnings, there are many mothers today that are God-fearing and deserve to be praised for their character. We salute mothers on this special day and offer double honor to those who fear God and set an example for others to follow.


Robert C. Hudson
May 10, 2009