Good morning Green Hills.  My name is Steve Muncherian.  I’m one of the Elders here at Green Hills.  If we have not yet met I’ll be on the back patio after the service please come and introduce yourself.

This morning it is my privilege to share God’s word with us.  Today is our last Sunday looking at the Book of Proverbs and Navigating the Nuance of Life – meaning we have arrived at chapter 31.  I invite you to tap or turn and meet me there.

On our family vacations we usually put together a jigsaw puzzle.  1,000 teeny tiny pieces poured out on a table that hopefully all get fit together by the end of our vacation.

1 year we had the whole 1,000 piece puzzle put together except there was 1 piece missing.  Which meant a frantic search under seat cushions – on the floor – until we realized that there actually were 1,000 pieces on the table.  It was just that 1 piece was a duplicate.  Which felt hugely discouraging.

We’ve said that there’s a strategy to putting a jigsaw puzzle together.  Right?  Getting the corners in place – connecting the edge pieces – gathering the colors.

Proverbs – just reading through it – we’ve said is like dumping out all those puzzle pieces on a table – it all looks pretty random – often discouraging.

But Proverbs gets organized by our reading and thinking and pondering and being humble before God and teachable to learn how to apply those different proverbs to the nuanced messiness of our lives.

As we’ve been doing that organizing of edge pieces over the last several Sunday’s we’ve been seeing a larger picture emerging out of all that seeming chaos.  We’ve seen two paths through life – unwise and wise.  We’ve seen themes emerge – wisdom for the family and parenting – wisdom in our work and stewarding wealth – in doing justice towards others – wisdom with our words coming from our heart.

Proverbs 31 is like being able to look at the puzzle we’ve put together on the table – what we’ve been studying in Proverbs – looking at all that – and then looking at the picture on the box top – and saying, “Yep.  That’s it.  That is what it’s supposed to look like when it all comes together.”

Big picture – fill in the blanks – hang on to this – Proverbs 31 is the box top.  It is what wisdom is supposed to look like as we’re navigating the nuanced messiness of our lives.

Together?

Proverbs 31 is a lot of verses so make sure your safety bar is in its down and locked position until the sermon comes to a full and complete stop.  Verse 1 – I’m reading from the ESV: 

The words of King Lemuel.  An oracle that his mother taught him: What are you doing, my son?  What are you doing, son of my womb?  What are you doing, son of my vows?  Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings.  It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted. 

Let’s pause there.

“What are you doing?”  Is the urgent plea of mother who’s deeply concerned for her son.  “Son, wake up!  Don’t go there!”

Verses 1 to 9 briefly summarizes – gives us the box top picture of – Proverbs chapters 1 to 9 – where Proverbs tells us that there two paths through life – an unwise path and wise path.   And Proverbs pleads with us – just like this mother is pleading with her son – “Son, choose the wise path.”

The unwise or foolish path – verse 3 – it entices us to give our strength to women – party on.  Verse 4 – it avoids the role of a king – ducks personal responsibility.  Verse 5 – it perverts the rights of the afflicted.  It doesn’t give a rip for others. 

It’s all about you – what floats your boat – what empowers your reality.  The more things change, the more they… stay the same. 

The unwise path is seductive.  It’s culturally relevant.  It appeals to our egos.  It promises much – but it’s foolishness – it’s destructive.  It comes up empty and leads to death.

The wise path is not so popular.  It is the narrow way.  But it’s God’s way to navigate the messy nuances of life.  Verse 7 – it provides for the impoverished.  Verse 8 – it speaks for those who cannot speak – the mute.  Verse 9 – it judges righteously. 

The wise path leads through life with God now and to life in the presence of God forever.

Hopefully – because we’ve been studying Proverbs – hopefully that sounds familiar.

Which brings us to verse 10 and following which summarizes the rest of Proverbs.

An excellent wife who can find?  She is far more precious than jewels.  The heart of her husband trusts her, and he will have no lack of gain.  She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. 

She is her husband’s partner – contributing to his success in the things of life.  There’s a trust between them. 

Notice how the edge piece theme of wisdom for the family begins to be touched on here.  The themes we’ve looked at are going to brought out in these verses.

Verse 13:  She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands.  She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar.  She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens.  She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.

What we’re seeing here is an example of the theme of wisdom in our work and wealth.

She’s managing her household – wisely.  And she’s got a full-time business going on the side.  She’s up before dawn and already crushing it.  She’s into real estate and commodities.  She’s a shrewd wheeler and dealer.

Verse 17:  She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. 

She’s programmed in time for physical fitness.  She’s into aerobics.  Maybe a little Taekwondo.

Verse 18: She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.  Her lamp does not go out at night.  She loves work – 24/7 she’s bringing it. 

Verse 19:  She puts her hand to the distaff – the distaff is the straight rod on a spinning wheel – and her hands hold the spindle. 

Meaning, when she’s not doing Taekwondo she’s pumping up her biceps on the spinning wheel.

Verse 20: She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. 

She’s not just talking politics and policy and posting on Facebook.  But, she extends her hand – personal contact.  Because heart-level she gets it – she cares. 

Which is another theme in Proverbs – wisdom to do justice – caring for the vulnerable.

Verse 21:  She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet.  She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple.

Meaning quality clothing – tastefully and seasonally appropriate.  She dresses sharp.  The excellent wife is not frumpy.  She’s buff and beautiful. 

Verse 23: Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land.  He’s known because of what she does.  She enhances his reputation. 

Verse 24: She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant.  Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. 

She laughs at what’s coming because she’s got it all under control.

Verse 26: She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. 

She speaks with wisdom that comes from her heart – reliable instruction that is full of kindness and grace and love.

Which is another edge piece theme – wisdom with our words that comes from our heart being controlled by God.

Verse 27: She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. 

The day ends and she can’t wait to get up and do it again. 

Verse 28:  Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.”  Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.  Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.

Reading through verses 10-31 in Hebrew – the first letter of the first word in each of these verses – verses 10-31 – the first letter of each first word of each verse forms an acrostic of the Hebrew alphabet. 

Kinda together on that?

If we just wrote down each first letter of each first word of each verse – in order – we’d end up with the Hebrew alphabet.  It’s a tool for memorization.

This passage – and the whole book of Proverbs – was written for who?  Specifically – verse 1 – King Lemuel.  But King Lemuel is a box top example. 

Meaning – on one level Proverbs is an instruction manual for young men on how to live the wise path – choice of two – live the wise path through life. 

So Proverbs 31 is the chapter that’s often taught as an example of what to look for in a wife.  What a Godly woman should be.  How many of you have heard these verses read on Mother’s Day? 

I started adding up the qualifications – making a list.  When I got to 40 qualifications I quit. 

We can just see King Lemuel – or Hebrew young men – taking mom’s advice “My son, chose the wise path.”  Hebrew young men walking around Jerusalem – looking for a wife – reciting these verses –comparing girls in town to the list.  She’s cute.  But too bad.  She only scored a 35 out of 40.

The problem with using this list that way is what?  Are they nuts?  Who in creation could possibly live up to a list like that?  It just wears you out thinking about it.

Jill Briscoe – a Christian author and speaker – in a book called Queen of Hearts – which is about Proverbs 31 - Jill Briscoe wrote this:  The Proverbs 31 woman has long stood as the Statue of Liberty at the harbor of the City of Womanhood, welcoming all who flee from being anything less than perfect. – calling women to perfection – But, what if I have runs in my stockings; consistently lose one of my husband’s socks in the washing machine; and regularly misplace my car in the supermarket parking lot?  Is there any hope for me if I dream of writing a book about my small children called, From Here To Insanity?  And if I’m shaped like a pillow instead of a post? (1) 

Reality check:  How is a woman – a wife and mother – supposed to juggle family, work, kids, schedules, putting up with their husbands, etc. etc. and still have quality time left for the gym and even their own personal time with God? 

And what about married women with no children?  Do they just write off the whole book of Proverbs?

Or, what about single women?

Or single parents?

And what about us men?  If we’re married, are we supposed to take this list home and tell our wives to take it up a notch.  Go home and try that and see well that works.

There’s a huge potential here for a whole lot of hurt and feelings of inadequacy and shame and comparison. 

Let’s remember that Proverbs 31 is the box top.

The list – alphabetized in Hebrew – coming at the end of all the proverbs – the edge pieces – pulling together all the themes in all the different spheres of our lives – the excellent wife is an illustration of what the puzzle looks like – what the God directed – God enabled – path of wisdom is supposed to look like in the nuanced day-to-day messiness of our lives. 

What’s here is a picture of where God can lead us if we follow Him – being humble and teachable – not a measurement of how far we – each of us male and female – single or married – not a crushing example of how far each of us falls short.  The box top is a God enabled goal to strive for not a measurement of our failure.

Everyone breathe a sigh of relief.  Whew!

Processing all that.  Thinking about what the example – living the box top – what all that means for us as we head out of here into the nuanced messiness of out there – what all that can look like for us – there are two big ideas we can hang on to.

First – Fear.  Who do you fear?

The edge piece themes we’ve been looking at here in Proverbs – here in chapter 31 – there are a lot of unknowns in each of those themes.  As we’re living in all the messiness of all that nuance we don’t know what comes next.

In what’s ahead for our families – our kids – our marriages.  Things happen and some of it is pretty painful and hard to deal with. 

And financially – the cost of stuff keeps going up – groceries – rent – gas.  We need to take out a loan just to go to McDonalds.

And what if financially things really blow up.  What if the two jobs you’re working aren’t enough?  Or your job goes away?  Thank you AI.  Or you get scammed?  Where’s the financial security?

And some of us are getting older.  Hopefully all of us.  Down the line – what about retirement?  Will you have enough?  What about medical costs and if we get some weird disease.  Maybe we end up alone some place. 

Where is the justice in that for us? 

Personally, I’m not afraid of dying.  It’s the process that messes with me. 

Below all that is fear – way too often driven by – triggered by – deeper stuff going on in our hearts – maybe a whole lot of pain – what’s been done to us – the experiences of our lives – fear of failure and shame and ridicule and rejection and disgrace – being found out.

In messiness of our lives we know we don’t have what it takes.  We fear falling short.  We often fear that people are going to find out just how inadequate we really are – how messed up we really are.

There is an ongoing tug-of-war for control of our hearts.  Who do you fear?

Look with me again at verse 30.

Charm is deceitful – charm in Hebrew means people thinking well of us – thinking we’re charming.  It’s deceitful – it’s deceptive.  Meaning popularity – the approval of others is fickle.

…and beauty – physical attractiveness – is vain – literally in Hebrew it’s as empty of substance as our breath – poof.

Reacting to our fear by doing what we know to do to somehow manage the messiness – playing the game – putting up the image – going with the culture – buying into the stuff of this world – giving in to our addictions.  All that for a time may calm our fears – but it’s empty – it leads to destruction – to death.

Let’s be honest.  It’s easy to go there.  But that’s just following the delusions of the unwise path.

Verse 30 – going on – But – meaning in total contrast to charm and beauty – a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised

The excellent wife – the woman following the wise path through life is crushing it.  Why?  Because she fears… the Lord.

The Almighty sovereign eternal self-existent unchanging all-knowing God of His creation – of all that exists – our creator – Who is free from any limitations, Who is holy, just, faithful, gracious, good, love, mercy, truth, patient, and wise.  God Who exists spiritually and in complete unity.  God Who in so many ways is so far beyond even the beginning of our comprehension. 

Fear of the Lord meaning that the God our creator alone is worthy of all of our awe and honor and respect and the complete surrender of our lives. 

a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised

Why?  Because she fears… the Lord.

But notice – verse 30 – the name Lord in the English translation uses all capital letters.  Do you see that?

“Lord” with all capitals is how many English translations translate the Hebrew name for God – “Yahweh.” 

Without deep diving into a word study – Jewish tradition considers the name of God – Yahweh – too sacred to pronounce.  So originally the name was written without vowels – just consonants – so it couldn’t be pronounced and profaned.    

In the Middle Ages Jewish scribes added vowels from the Hebrew title “Adonai” – meaning “My Lord” – “Lord” – to the Hebrew consonants of Yahweh – which we could write as YHWH – they added the vowels from “Adonai” as a way to help readers pronounce the name of Yahweh without actually saying it because without the original vowels no one knew how it was supposed to be pronounced and so they couldn’t pronounce it and profane it.

Even today – reading aloud through Scripture – Jews will say Adonai or Lord instead of Yahweh.

Bottom line – when you see Lord with all caps in English that’s the name of God in Hebrew Yahweh – which may or may not be the right pronunciation.

Names for the Hebrews were a profound thing.  Your name was who you were – your reputation – the summary and representation of your character. 

In Scripture, the “name” of God is the description of Who He is.

In the Bible there are number of names that God uses to reveal Who He is to us.  Yahweh – one of those names – Yahweh – focuses on God Who personally reveals Himself to His creation – morally – spiritually – relationally.  Yahweh is the Covenant name of God.

In Genesis 12:1-3 its Yahweh Who covenanted with Abraham – promised Abraham a land to dwell on – descendants to dwell on that land – and through those descendants to bless all of the nations on the planet. 

That He – God – Yahweh – would be their God – personally – intimately – knowing each of us and God being intimately known by us.  Which is us in Christ.

The name Jesus comes from the Greek form of the Hebrew “yeshua” which means “Yahweh saves.”

Matthew 1:21 – the angel tells Joseph, “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Safety bar still down and locked? 

Most of us woke up this morning… in our right minds – most of us – we put our feet on the floor got up.  Most of us eat 3 meals a day, have a roof over our heads, clothing to wear, and bills get paid.  Illnesses get healed.

It doesn’t have to be that way.  But all that is a testimony of God’s track record in our lives.  Even in the pain and suffering and sorrow and messiness of life – in what has been and what is and what may yet come – God has not and will not abandon us. 

But more than just physical blessings how many of us can testify that God has rescued us – brought spiritual healing to our lives – and pulled us back to where we should have been if we’d kept trusting Him in the first place.  The greatest reality of that is our salvation by His grace given to us in Jesus Christ. 

We need to grab that for ourselves.  The incomprehensible Almighty God – Who is justified in His wrath against us – is gracious and merciful and loving towards us in providing the means of our redemption and relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.

Amen?!!?

That’s the God of the Covenant – Yahweh – Jesus.

In the messiness of life who do you fear?  We have a choice.  A choice of paths.

Fear of the Lord – choosing the path of wisdom as we’re navigating the nuance of life – fear of the Lord isn’t just about the brain popping reality of Who God is.  Fear of the Lord is pressing into the relationship that God gives to us with Himself through Jesus. 

Wisdom and walking the wise path – living the box top – is taking what we know about God – Who He is and what He does – His track record in history and in our lives – and in humility before God allowing Him to apply all that into the messiness of our lives – to teach us how to do life His way.  That only happens in relationship – when we’re choosing in the moments of our lives to by faith to press into our relationship with God and trust Him alone to lead us forward.

Who do you fear?

Second big idea to hang onto – thinking about what all this means for us as we head out there.

Praise – Who gets the praise?

Verse 30: But a woman who fears the Lord is to be… praised – commended – honored – held up as the example.

All that praise happens why?  She… fears the Lord – all caps.

She’s following Yahweh on His wise path through life.

So, on one hand – who gets the praise – is a heart level reality self-check question. 

If our motivation is our own reputation and glory then we’re back to living by the unwise path trying to be charming and beautiful.

Which means we need to get real about what path we’re actually following and make some serious path choice corrections.

But on the other hand if we get praise for what God’s doing in us and through us and we’re seeing that all the reality of that is because we’re in humility seeking to follow God through life and He’s teaching us how to do life His way – then to God be the glory. 

Which is what’s going on here with the box top of chapter 31.

The people around us – trying to navigate the nuance of life on the unwise path – they’re living deceived by the adversary thinking they’re getting everything they want – but they still keep coming up empty.

The answer coming out of the world?  Blame others and just try harder.  Press into your own reality. 

Bottom line they’ve got empty souls.  And nothing will ever fill that emptiness but Jesus.

But – in total contrast – to live on God’s path of wisdom – fearing the Lord even in the messiness of real life is to testify – to our families – our co-workers – people God brings us to – that God offers something totally different to each one of us – His knowledge – His wisdom – His presence – His purpose for our lives – now and forever.

I don’t know how messy your life is or how nuanced.  But, following God through all that – all that messiness isn’t a mistake.  There is value and purpose for today and forever in what God is leading you through.  God Himself is using you to bring praise to Himself and others to relationship with Him.

This morning – make sure you’re on the path of wisdom.  That begins in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  Meaning – have you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior?  If you have questions about what that means come and talk with me after the service or talk with someone at the Prayer Table on the back patio. 

And if you are trusting Jesus as your Savior – in the day-to-day decisions of your nuanced life – be honest with yourself and God – Who do you fear? And Who gets the praise?  Which path are you actually following?

_________________________

1.     Brisco, Jill.  Queen of Hearts: The Role of Today’s Woman – Based on Proverbs 31, Old Tappan, New Jersey, Flemming H. Revell Company, 1984, page 9

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®  (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.