Just in case you missed the Intro to this series, find it here.
In today’s devotional, I thought to linger a little longer on verse 1, that I wrote about in this post here. Here we go:
“The words of king Lemuel, the utterance his mother taught him.” (Prov 31:1)
Keep in mind that we are tracking the Proverbs 31 woman. We want to find out:
Who is she? What makes her life so organized? What’s the secret to her sense of peace and tranquility?
Well, this reminds me of how, as a young girl, I would admire the women ministers who would preach to us as students. Their lives seemed so put together.
I would have all sorts of burning questions in my heart, wondering in my impressionable mind, what made them so successful.
I would probably have “stalked” them if I could, to know exactly how they lived their lives from day to day.
I was so taken away one time by such a couple – a husband and wife who ministered to us in a series of meetings that a dear friend gently remarked to me, you’ve not lived with them in their house to really know if what they are portraying before us is real. Wasn’t I taken aback!
But in a surprising turn of events, two or so years later, after my studies, God graciously gave me the opportunity to live in the house of another godly couple for one whole month, something I had never done, and to share a compound with them and other godly couples for a number of years.
I had the opportunity to do all the “stalking” I could… with some sort of permission because they not only opened their home but their hearts to me as well. This couple became MY spiritual parents.
What does this have to do with our verse today? Just in case you have forgotten, here is the verse:
“The words of king Lemuel, the utterance his mother taught him.”
I had opportunity to check several translations of this verse. Most render what the queen mother did as “teaching”; or taught her son.
Teaching, as you and I look to God to make us into the godly women he wants us to be, must be part of the package.
If for king Lemuel it was about being the godly man and king God definitely wanted him to be, and knowing who to marry, I bet for the woman it would be about being this kind of woman described in this passage; or at least striving to become.
I learnt from Google’s dictionary that one of the definitions of teaching is, ideas or principles taught by an authority.
For an authority to give or disseminate information, it must be because they’ve gone ahead of us; even if not anywhere else but in the ‘school of life’.
They have learnt what they are teaching by experience and observation and through lessons they’ve learnt and garnered over the years.
Three ways through which teaching will happen come to mind:
- Your own interaction with God in his Word, the Bible, and in prayer, will be the first and probably the most significant of ways you will learn.
It’s significant in that you are learning from God himself. You are also having the precious opportunity and privilege of doing so daily.
By doing this each single day, you will be availing yourself to the Holy Spirit to teach you.
You will not be limited to Scripture focusing on women alone. He will teach you from his entire Word. Your character growth and transformation will happen in a balanced sober way.
Consider Isaiah the prophet’s words:
“The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.” (Isaiah 50:4 NIV)
Just in case you would want to know how to have an effective Quiet Time, check this blog post here.
These two here and here will also be helpful to garrison your conviction of why you should have your Quiet Time each day.
Let’s get to the second way:
- Your own diligence in reading biblically sound books and materials other godly men and women have written and or produced over the years will also be helpful.
I believe this includes listening to sermons that edify. Only ensure that the doctrine of this content is scriptural and that they are practicing what they preach.
God has ordained the body of Christ in such a way that we need each other. No single entity is the custodian of all truth. Only God is. He will use others to work in us.
- Nothing can replace the input of a real actual older godly woman, such as the queen mother was to her son, to invest in your life.
No wonder Paul tells the older women to train the younger women. (Titus 2:4)
We know teaching precedes training. If they are to train the younger women, it must be that they are first of all teaching them what they are training them.
Actually, KJV renders training as teaching in Titus 2:4 while NIV Renders it training.
In case you don’t have such a woman, pray. God will answer you as he did for me a few years ago.
This particular woman who mentored me once told me something interesting: For a long time, her mentor was in a book because she couldn’t seem to find a woman who could mentor her.
She however prayed. God is faithful. Years later, he gave her more than one mentor; older women who ministered to her as mothers in the faith.
No doubt teaching will be one main way God will use to build you up in your most holy faith, forming you into the woman of noble character he wants you to be.
Prayer: “Father, give me a teachable heart; a heart that is ready to receive all you have in store for me, as you work in me. I look to you to make me into all you want me to be, that I might continue to be an effective servant in doing your will. Amen.”