As Christian women, when we compare our lives with the Proverbs 31 woman, it is easy for us to focus on our sins and failures and to become discouraged, but we need not do so. Our God is powerful to transform our lives and use us in His kingdom and for His glory. Both the Old and New Testaments are full of real-life examples. Today, let’s consider two of them: Rahab and Ruth.
From Harlotry to Hebrews 11
Joshua 2 tells us that Rahab was a prostitute in the pagan city of Jericho. She was living in a city and among a people which Israel was about to destroy. However, when the Israelite spies came into the city, she received them into her house, hid them on her roof, and helped them to escape safely. In return, when the Israelites conquered Jericho, they spared her and her family.
By the grace of God, Rahab joined God’s people, Israel, and is mentioned in Hebrews as a woman of faith: “By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace” (Hebrews 11:31).
From a Pagan Family to God’s Family
Ruth was a Moabite woman. The Moabites were a people born from the incestuous relationship between Lot and his eldest daughter (Genesis 19:37). In Deuteronomy, God, through Moses, gave the people the following command regarding the Moabites: “No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the LORD; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the LORD, because they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you” (Deuteronomy 23:3-4).
However, by God’s providence, Ruth married an Israelite man who was living in the land of Moab. When her husband died, Ruth had the chance to return to her family, but she chose to go to the land of Israel with her mother-in-law, Naomi. Ruth told Naomi, “where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God” (Ruth 1:16).
Sinners and Their Savior
Both Rahab and Ruth appear in the genealogy of our Lord, which is recorded in the gospel of Matthew. From Matthew’s genealogy we learn that Rahab and Salmon (a man from the tribe of Judah) had a son named Boaz (Matthew 1:5).
Boaz married the widowed Ruth (Ruth 4:13).
Ruth and Boaz had a son named Obed.
Obed was the father of Jesse.
And Jesse, in turn, was the father of King David, from whom our Lord Jesus was descended.
Proverbs 31 and Us
Our God is powerful to transform our lives and use us in His kingdom and for His glory.
For this reason, as Christian wives, let us approach Proverbs 31 with joy and hope: joy for what God has already done in making us new creatures in Christ, and hope for what He will still do in us and through us for His glory.
If we want to be excellent Christian women and wives, let us ask God, in Jesus’ Name, to make us so. And let us press on, renewing our minds with His Word, being alert, confessing and turning from our sins, and seeking His help in prayer so we may serve our Lord and our families well to His glory — ever mindful to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
