Proverbs 31:30

Through all 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet in this chapter, the author is offering reasons to praise the woman who fears the Lord. To do this he tries to think of 22 praiseworthy things to say about her.

This should inspire women to fear the Lord and be like this woman in the way she fulfilled her role (and that is possible for all women, married or unmarried). It should inspire others, especially husbands and children to praise women who fear the Lord. And it should also contain praise for the godly woman.

What Does It Mean to Fear the Lord?

“Charm is deceitful, beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” What does it mean in daily experience to “fear the Lord”? Let’s go back to the beginning of Israel’s national life.

In Exodus 20:18, the context is Moses and the giving of the ten commandments.

Now when all the people perceived the thunderings and the lightnings and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled; and they stood afar off, and said to Moses, “You speak to us and we will hear, but let not God speak to us, lest we die.” And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to prove you, and that the fear of him may be before your eyes that you may not sin.”

Do not fear. You are being tested. You pass the test only if you don’t fear. Yet God desires that the fear of him be always before your eyes. You pass the test by fearing the Lord. The fear that Moses was telling them to get rid of was the fear of coming close to God and hearing his voice. They had a fear of that, but the fear that Moses wanted them to keep before their eyes was that God is fearfully powerful and opposed to sin.

The fear of God’s wrath against sin ought to draw us toward Him for mercy, and not to drive us away from Him.

The fear of the Lord is fear of fleeing out of his fellowship into the way of sin. Therefore the fear of the Lord is full of peace and security and hope. It keeps us near to the merciful heart of God, our fortress, our refuge. Isaiah 8:13“The Lord of Hosts, … let him be your fear, and let him be your dread, and he will become a sanctuary.” A proper fear of the Lord keeps us near him where we need not be afraid.

Psalm 25:14, “The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him; he makes known to them his covenant.”

Psalm 31:19, “How abundant is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for those who fear thee, and wrought for those who take refuge in thee.” Those who keep the fear of God before their eyes will not run from him but take refuge in him.

Psalm 34:7, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them.” Psalm 103:11,

Psalm 145:19, “He fulfills the desire of all who fear him.”

Psalm 33:18, “The eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his mercy.”

Psalm 147:11, “The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his mercy.”

A woman who fears the Lord will not run away from God to satisfy her longings and relieve her anxieties. She will wait for the Lord, and place her hope in Him, staying close to the heart of God and trust in his promises.

The prospect of departing into the way of sin will be too fearful to do; and the benefits of staying close to Him will be to great to abandon.

The Reasons to Praise Such a Woman

Proverbs 31:30 “Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Why?

A strong and good incentive for praising a woman who fears the Lord is that it feels so good. It expresses and completes the joy that such a woman brings.

C.S. Lewis said, “Praise is inner health made audible.

The scrooges of the world seldom speak praise. They have an inner sickness of soul that yields criticism, complaining, murmuring, grumbling, sarcasm, suspicion, and a general joylessness.

Jesus Christ died and rose again precisely that the commands, ‘Rejoice always,’ and ‘For everything give thanks,’ would be realistic. Now open your eyes; there are natural and moral beauties to praise in this world because God made it and is at work in it. Break the habit of grumbling. Get yourself hooked on praise. It feels ten times better.”

Praising Her honors God

There is a sense in which all praise, just like all boasting (1 Corinthians 1:31), should be in the Lord. But since the Lord has made the world and is at work in us fallen creatures, it is possible to praise him indirectly by praising something he made or praising something that exalts him.

Praising these women who fear the Lord is to strengthen their hand in the Lord.

There are always temptations to allure us away from the fear of God: temptations to fear financial insecurity more than we fear God (cf. Proverbs 23:17), to fear rejection by our peers more than we fear God, to fear the loss of time spent in good deeds more than we fear God. Again and again we must have our hand strengthened in God. We need to hear a saintly person say, “Well done. I love the way you fear the Lord.” Praise them for not giving in to the worlds ideas.

verse 28: “Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.” What if something horrible happened and you lost your mother in an accident tomorrow and you had to go to her funeral on Friday? What would you wish you had told her today?

Then why don’t you stop and take the time to tell her now. “Her children rise up and call her blessed.”

Tell her, and you will strengthen her hand in God.

Husbands, what about you, what if that happened to your wife? Would you then understand why it was not important to make an issue of such non-essentials? Why did you let criticism and nit-picking dry up my expressions of gratitude and praise?” O how we need to live in the light of our dying.

“Death puts everything in perspective.” I know from experience, when you suffer the loss of a love one, this world sort of loses its appeal, it is just not important any more. Surely, if offers nothing to fuss over.

Praise her, her while you have her. And you will strengthen her heart in God, honor the Lord, and add great joy to your own life.

What Does a Woman Who Fears the Lord Look Like?

How does a woman who fears the Lord live her life day to day?

What sorts of things can we praise her for?

A woman who fears the Lord is not anxious about the future.

verse 25. “Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.” Satan dangles in front of her the possibility of tomorrow’s troubles, but she glances up at the almighty God at her right hand and laughs at Satan’s.

Proverbs 14:26, “In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge.”

Her fear of the Lord makes her fearless of man, but not naïve. She knows that the Lord has appointed some means for our safety. verse 21, “She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet.”

God has appointed that we do more than pray that our needs are met. Clothing must be made or bought. When a woman fears the Lord, she will not be anxious about tomorrow, she will do what God has appointed for her to do and trust him in everything to show her mercy.

The woman who fears the Lord has practical wisdom.

Verse 26, “She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” We’ve are taught early on that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10), so it’s no surprise that the woman who fears the Lord “opens her mouth with wisdom.”

Practical, gracious wisdom and freedom from anxiety about the future are two sides of the same coin. The wisest people are the people who hope in the Lord and have quieted their soul like a child trusting their mother. Women, there is a wisdom that your family and friends and associates need which will only come from a heart that can laugh at the future because it fears the Lord.

The woman who fears the Lord is strong.

Verse 25, “Strength and dignity are her clothing.” Verse 17, “She girds her loins with strength and makes her arms strong.” She will be morally strong. Proverbs 23:17 says, “Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day.” The woman who continues in the fear of the Lord will have power to resist all the allurements to desire things she does not need.

The fear of the Lord is the impulse to wisdom, and rouses the mind to search for knowledge as for hidden treasure.

The woman who fears the Lord will live not for herself alone.

Verses 11, 12, “The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not harm all the days of her life.”

A woman who fears the Lord will not squander the family’s livelihood on frivolous purchases, but will have the complete trust of her husband because she is for him and not against him.

Far more important than this financial support is the moral support of your husband. Proverbs 12:4 “A good wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is the rottenness of his bones.”

A wife who fears the Lord increases the esteem of her husband at the gates of the city. That indicates he is in some kind of important position.

The woman who fears the Lord: whether married or not, helps those in need.

Verse 20: “She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy.” God has drawn near and secured her future in his care. Now she draws near to those who need most help. This woman is well-to-do, but she does not allow her station to hinder her association with the lowly.

“Charm is deceitful, beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” She keeps before her eyes the fearfulness of running away from God into sin and so stays close to God.

In doing that, she is a blessing that should be praised for the good she is doing to all those around her.