GOD’S WISDOM FOR YOU
PROVERBS 31:17
17 She straps on strength
and makes her arms strong.
“Dresses” begins with the eighth letter of the Hebrew ABC’s, heth. It’s hagar, but not the same as the name of Abraham’s concubine Hagar, whose name begins with the letter heh, not heth (Genesis 16:1,3). Some translations have difficulty with how to make Solomon speak English here. NIV has “She sets about her work vigorously,” which catches the gist. EHV is outstanding here: “She wraps strength around her waist like a belt.” I can’t help but think of how proud I was when my wife tied on belt after belt as our family took Karate lessons a few years ago. She far surpassed us all, often testing through two levels at once, and ending up one test short of her black belt when we had to stop for a summer vacation (after that our Karate master moved away, and we haven’t connected with a new one yet).
In the Scriptures, strong arms are not just a matter of brute force or arm-wrestling power. Physical strength is a blessing from God (Genesis 49:24). Like wisdom, it is not something to boast about (Jeremiah 9:23-24), but both wisdom and strength are reminders that God is the one who gives so generously to those who love him. Here in verse 17, the emphasis is not only on her physical strength, but on what she does with it. To be strong and be lazy is a useless waste of a gift. To be capable and be diligent is putting a gift to good use. “Diligent hands bring wealth” (Prov. 10:4) is generally true, and lazy hands will accomplish nothing at all.
More important than any physical strength is the spiritual strength which is talked about throughout the Holy Scriptures. When Paul talks about a spiritual gift that would make the Roman Christians strong, he says that what he means is “that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith” (Rom. 1:11-12). True strength is true faith in Christ, trusting in his miraculous atonement. He “will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:8). Later in 1 Corinthians, “stand firm in the faith” is paralleled with “be strong” (1 Cor. 16:13). And Paul urged Timothy: “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:1). These and many other statements like them are encouragements to be strong even in the face of opposition to our faith. These were Christians who were being persecuted because of their faith, and some of them were being tortured and killed for the sake of Christ. Peter said, “After you have suffered a little while, Christ himself will restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 5:10-11).
A wife or mother with a strong faith in Jesus Christ is able to comfort her family with her words, her love, and her mere presence. She is like the floor under her family’s feet, firm, solid; reliable. The heroic wife is strong. Mine is a spiritual Black Belt.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: www.wlchapel.org/connect-grow/ministries/adults/daily-devotions/gwfy-archive/2019
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota