Beautiful in God's Eyes

I recently came across a book about all the remarkable women of the Bible (although I confess I can't remember the exact title right now). And I've been reading a book titled "Beautiful in God's Eyes" by Elizabeth George. It's based on one of the best known (and perhaps least liked!) women in the Bible, the unnamed woman of Proverbs 31.

Since we finished our journey through the names of God last week, I've been wondering where we would journey together next. And since my reading lately has me focused on women in the Bible, it seems fitting that we go in that direction. How long will this journey take? I honestly have no idea! But I do know that I am intrigued by all the women we will meet along the way.

Just think about the title of Elizabeth George's book.....which I borrowed to title this post....."Beautiful in God's Eyes". Isn't that what we want to be? I know it's what I want. Think about all the time and effort (and money!) we spend to be beautiful on the outside! And believe me, it's a good thing that I spend at least some time and effort on physical appearance......that's probably true for all of us. But how much more important that we put time and effort into being beautiful on the inside, that we spend time on our inner selves.....developing that "imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit which is precious in the sight of God" (1 Peter 3:2).

And so, our journey begins with the unnamed Proverbs 31 woman.  I think it is likely that she was an actual woman, not just some ideal that we feel we can never measure up to.  If you go to Proverbs 31 and look at the first verse, you'll see that this Proverb is from King Lemuel (and I confess I have no idea who he is!) who is sharing the words his mother taught him.  And apparently this list beginning in verse 10 is a list of qualities she thought he should look for in a wife!  I read somewhere (maybe in Elizabeth George's book, although I confess I don't remember where I read it......) that if we were to read this in Hebrew we would find it to be an alphabetized list.  In other words, it's like an "alphabet of character"......a listing of character qualities.  Since I don't read Hebrew and have only a very, very basic knowledge of the Hebrew alphabet, I can't confirm that.  But it's an interesting idea, don't you think?  We'll be spending the first part of our journey learning more about this woman, and about the character qualities that make her such a worthy example for us.

Your first assignment will be to read about her.........Proverbs 31:10-31.   If you would like to share your first impressions, please leave a comment.

"Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised."
(Proverbs 31:30)