As I consider the influential qualities of the woman spoken of in Proverbs 31, my thoughts gather around verse 30; "Charm is deceptive and beauty does not last, but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised." To be praised means we have influenced someone in a positive manner. It brings me to the conclusion that because this woman feared the Lord, she was motivated to minister the way she did to her husband, family, and community. She was trustworthy, industrious, creative, strong, caring and selfless in meeting the needs of those around her and so much more.
So what does it 'look like' for a woman to fear the Lord'?
Gothard sums up the definition this way: "The fear of the Lord is the continual awareness that I am in the presence of a holy, just and almighty God; and that every thought, word, action, and deed is open to Him and is being judged by Him." So, this fact makes me very secure. As I fear the Lord I am aware of His presence and Psalm 16:11 says that 'in His presence is fullness of joy and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore.' Because He is a holy, just and almighty God, He is fully worthy of my trust and confidence. As I acknowledge the fact that He is aware of my every thought, word, action and deed I realize I am accountable to Him for the way I live and the choices I make--they matter to Him! The more I fear the Lord, the more I want to please Him; thus my motivation to make right choices. Not only does that please God, but it is beneficial to me as well.
Proverbs 9:10 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." We all want godly wisdom; and we seek godly wisdom from those who have it. It begins in us by learning to fear the Lord. This is not a fear whereby we cower in His presence or are afraid of Him, but a healthy respect and awe of this God who so loves and cares for every aspect of our lives!
Let me point out from some biblical women and men how this fear of the Lord was evidenced in their lives:
1) Abigail [you can read more about her in 1 Samuel 25]: her husband, Nabal's actions had angered King David and he was coming to kill him, but Abigail made a godly appeal to King David on behalf of her husband to keep the King from killing him in anger, which would have caused the King to be disrespected. Her husband was a fool and everyone knew it. She could have let King David kill him, but she feared the Lord--she did what she knew what would honor Him. As you read in the story, God took care of Nabal in His way. And He took care of Abigail as well.
2) Sarah [you can read more about her in Genesis 12]: Abraham placed her in a very compromising situation, but she trusted God and His care of her through her obedience to her husband. She is used as a godly example in 1Peter 3: 5, 6; "That is the way the holy women of old made themselves beautiful. They trusted God and accepted the authority of their husbands. For instance, Sarah obeyed her husband, Abraham when she called him her master. You are her daughters when you do what is right without fear of what your husbands might do." I love this story of Sarah's faith and her godly influence. I know you will too!
3) Job: Job was a man of whom it was said, 'He was a man who feared God.' Throughout the entire book of Job I have noted instances of his fear of God. When he lost everything his response was, 'The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.' When his wife suggested he curse God and die, he said: '...shall we accept good from God and not trouble?' In all this, Job did not charge God with wrong doing.' At the end of the book Job declares (in spite of all his suffering) "My ears had heard of You but now my eyes have seen You." Job had a greater trust and godly fear of the Lord at the end of the book--He knew God more intimately.
4) Joseph (you can read about Joseph's life in Genesis 37-50): So much has been written about this man who truly feared God--had a deep trust and confidence in Him and an awareness of His involvement in the circumstances of his life. Even though his brothers sold him into slavery, God had a plan for Joseph to rise to a place of authority so he would be in a position to save his family who had wronged him, in a time of famine. Joseph knew God, He feared God as the One who had orchestrated the events of his life--all of them--even when he was imprisoned wrongfully. He forgave his brothers and all those who had treated him unfairly; and at the end of the book he tells his brothers, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."
Look at the lives these people who feared God influenced? I want to be a woman of influence in the same way, don't you? "God is good to everyone, and His compassion is intertwined with everything He does." Psalm 145:9 LB
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
The Joy of Contentment
Years ago someone said, “Sorrows come to stretch out spaces in our hearts for joy.” I am coming to believe that even little disappointments, inconveniences, as well as very painful experiences come into our lives for that purpose. God wants us to have hearts filled with joy!
In a time of transition in our lives, we were living in a small mobile home. I was very discontent with the tight quarters with no promise of a change anytime soon. There were also no other children in the area to play with our children. We had some friends who were home on furlough from the mission field and their children needed a place to play for the day, so one Saturday I arranged to pick up the children so they could all play together. When the Dad came to get them at the end of the day, I was complaining to him about our cramped space. He looked at me and said, “Dianne, don’t you remember that Jesus did not have a place to lay His head?” It was like a knife had gone into my heart! Even though it hurt at the time, God used that encounter to begin the process of teaching me contentment (and, by-the-way, it is still going on today!) Years later my husband and I were speaking at a conference where this man was also a speaker. I thanked him for how God used his reminder so God could bring me to the point where I could share my message for the day: “The Beauty of Contentment”. But I am still learning!
Webster defines contentment: Happy enough with what one has or is; not desiring something more or different. Charles Kelly in an article in Discipleship Journal says, “Christian contentment is the God-given ability to be satisfied with the loving provision of God in any and every situation.” Hebrews 13:5 in the Amplified Bible says this: “Let your character or moral disposition be free from the love of money—including greed, avarice (too much desire to get and keep money), lust, and craving for earthly possessions—and be satisfied (content) with your present circumstances and with what you have; for He (God) has said, I will not in any way fail you, nor give you up, nor leave you without support. I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless, not forsake, nor let you down, relax my hold on you—assuredly not!” Ah! That’s the reason we can be content!
Notice that it is a choice, ‘Let your character or moral disposition be free…’ We must allow the Lord to BE who He is in our lives. Mark tells us in chapter 6 that Jesus took the food that the people had and gave thanks. He gave it to them and “they ate and were fully satisfied”—so contentment can be something we feel. But Jesus tells us in Mark 4: 19 that contentment is also the absence of craving earthly things.
Let’s look at some signs of discontentment.
Wrong attitudes that bring on murmuring and complaining, (Num. 11:1 ‘when the people complained it displeased the Lord…’);
a critical spirit - Romans 14:4 Phillips ‘who are you to criticize the servant of somebody else, especially when that somebody else is God…’;
or comparisons - John 21:21, Jesus told Peter to not worry about John, He said, ‘you follow me’. 2 Cor. 10:12 tells us that comparing ourselves among ourselves ‘is not wise’. We may have greater expectations than what God gives in material wealth or relationships.
I am slowly learning that God never intended that we would find our contentment or satisfaction or fulfillment in any other person or place or thing on the face of the earth, but ONLY in Him. People will fail us, circumstances will disappoint us, but God never will. We may find a measure of fulfillment but God will not allow anything to take His place in our lives.
Discontentment can also be a wrong focus. We can look only for what we can get rather than what we can give, in possessions as well as relationships. We can also get caught up in not enjoying what we do have because of focusing on what we don’t have. All of these things draw our hearts away from God. Do you wonder why God gave all those examples in the Old Testament? Romans 15:4 tells us that ‘whatever was written in the past was written to teach us…’ And we know that whenever the Israelites kept their focus on God, things went well--as well as they could in the desert! But when they took their eyes off of God’s promises they lost hope.
Disappointment or wrong expectations can be signs of being discontent. These happen in the daily activities of life—you had planned to take a trip and plans were cancelled, you expected your husband to do something for you and he didn’t—your child failed in a class at school—you didn’t get that position you wanted.
So what are some keys to contentment?
One big key is realizing it is a process—we are to 'pursue right living' according to 1 Tim. 6:11. Secondly, we need to keep our focus on God.
I have observed four essentials for keeping a right focus:
1) Knowing God, it must be a continual priority (Isa. 43:10);
2) Fearing God, (Isa. 33:6);
3) Believing God, (2 Sam. 22:31);
4) Praising God, (Psa. 145: 16, 17 and Psa. 139). The exciting thing about praise is that it releases our hearts to embrace an eternal perspective—to see Him in our daily experiences.
Contentment has a whole lot to do with choosing to see His hand in everything that happens in our lives. When we do, we will be content that He, indeed, does have our best interest in mind. In her book Surrender, Nancy Leigh De Moss quotes, “Someone has said that the will of God is exactly what we would choose if we knew what God knows"—which is why we so often find it difficult to embrace His will and why we must learn to ‘trust and obey’. Contentment comes when we embrace His will with all of our heart.
In a time of transition in our lives, we were living in a small mobile home. I was very discontent with the tight quarters with no promise of a change anytime soon. There were also no other children in the area to play with our children. We had some friends who were home on furlough from the mission field and their children needed a place to play for the day, so one Saturday I arranged to pick up the children so they could all play together. When the Dad came to get them at the end of the day, I was complaining to him about our cramped space. He looked at me and said, “Dianne, don’t you remember that Jesus did not have a place to lay His head?” It was like a knife had gone into my heart! Even though it hurt at the time, God used that encounter to begin the process of teaching me contentment (and, by-the-way, it is still going on today!) Years later my husband and I were speaking at a conference where this man was also a speaker. I thanked him for how God used his reminder so God could bring me to the point where I could share my message for the day: “The Beauty of Contentment”. But I am still learning!
Webster defines contentment: Happy enough with what one has or is; not desiring something more or different. Charles Kelly in an article in Discipleship Journal says, “Christian contentment is the God-given ability to be satisfied with the loving provision of God in any and every situation.” Hebrews 13:5 in the Amplified Bible says this: “Let your character or moral disposition be free from the love of money—including greed, avarice (too much desire to get and keep money), lust, and craving for earthly possessions—and be satisfied (content) with your present circumstances and with what you have; for He (God) has said, I will not in any way fail you, nor give you up, nor leave you without support. I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless, not forsake, nor let you down, relax my hold on you—assuredly not!” Ah! That’s the reason we can be content!
Notice that it is a choice, ‘Let your character or moral disposition be free…’ We must allow the Lord to BE who He is in our lives. Mark tells us in chapter 6 that Jesus took the food that the people had and gave thanks. He gave it to them and “they ate and were fully satisfied”—so contentment can be something we feel. But Jesus tells us in Mark 4: 19 that contentment is also the absence of craving earthly things.
Let’s look at some signs of discontentment.
Wrong attitudes that bring on murmuring and complaining, (Num. 11:1 ‘when the people complained it displeased the Lord…’);
a critical spirit - Romans 14:4 Phillips ‘who are you to criticize the servant of somebody else, especially when that somebody else is God…’;
or comparisons - John 21:21, Jesus told Peter to not worry about John, He said, ‘you follow me’. 2 Cor. 10:12 tells us that comparing ourselves among ourselves ‘is not wise’. We may have greater expectations than what God gives in material wealth or relationships.
I am slowly learning that God never intended that we would find our contentment or satisfaction or fulfillment in any other person or place or thing on the face of the earth, but ONLY in Him. People will fail us, circumstances will disappoint us, but God never will. We may find a measure of fulfillment but God will not allow anything to take His place in our lives.
Discontentment can also be a wrong focus. We can look only for what we can get rather than what we can give, in possessions as well as relationships. We can also get caught up in not enjoying what we do have because of focusing on what we don’t have. All of these things draw our hearts away from God. Do you wonder why God gave all those examples in the Old Testament? Romans 15:4 tells us that ‘whatever was written in the past was written to teach us…’ And we know that whenever the Israelites kept their focus on God, things went well--as well as they could in the desert! But when they took their eyes off of God’s promises they lost hope.
Disappointment or wrong expectations can be signs of being discontent. These happen in the daily activities of life—you had planned to take a trip and plans were cancelled, you expected your husband to do something for you and he didn’t—your child failed in a class at school—you didn’t get that position you wanted.
So what are some keys to contentment?
One big key is realizing it is a process—we are to 'pursue right living' according to 1 Tim. 6:11. Secondly, we need to keep our focus on God.
I have observed four essentials for keeping a right focus:
1) Knowing God, it must be a continual priority (Isa. 43:10);
2) Fearing God, (Isa. 33:6);
3) Believing God, (2 Sam. 22:31);
4) Praising God, (Psa. 145: 16, 17 and Psa. 139). The exciting thing about praise is that it releases our hearts to embrace an eternal perspective—to see Him in our daily experiences.
Contentment has a whole lot to do with choosing to see His hand in everything that happens in our lives. When we do, we will be content that He, indeed, does have our best interest in mind. In her book Surrender, Nancy Leigh De Moss quotes, “Someone has said that the will of God is exactly what we would choose if we knew what God knows"—which is why we so often find it difficult to embrace His will and why we must learn to ‘trust and obey’. Contentment comes when we embrace His will with all of our heart.
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