“Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised” (Proverbs 31:30).
If you are a woman and you have a pulse, odds are you struggle with the fear of man. Everywhere we look, there are people we want to please (usually other ladies), and we care far too much about what they think of our decisions, behavior, philosophies, lifestyle, family, and priorities.
However, the Bible is very clear on this subject: what matters is whether we please God in all these aspects of our lives, not whether other people approve. It is exhausting and downright impossible to keep everyone we encounter happy with us. So it is actually a great blessing that we are accountable to God, not man, for our choices. God is the only One we should fear, for His “opinion” is the only one that matters.
As women, we often put much stock in how our personalities are perceived by others as well as in our outward physical appearance. In other words, we are obsessed with the charm and beauty spoken of in Proverbs 31:30, because we want others to think highly of us. But these “qualities” are vain and have no eternal significance. They may matter to people, but they do not matter to God.
1 Samuel 16:7 says, “But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.’”
What is important is not our ability to dazzle others with our persona or beauty; what is important is that our actions and attitudes spring from a beautiful heart that fears the Lord and desires to please Him above all others.
Notice that the Bible never says that the winsome and gorgeous will gain wisdom and praise. Wisdom begins with the “fear of the Lord”
(Proverbs 9:10), and praise comes to “a woman who fears the Lord”
(Proverbs 31:30).
If we wish to be the Proverbs 31 woman, full of wisdom and grace, we must shed the sinful tendency to fear people and instead focus on serving and glorifying God.
“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind”
(Ecclesiastes 12:13).
