Who Can Find a Virtuous Woman?

“Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life…Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.” (Proverbs 31:10-12; 30-31. KJV) [Read Proverbs 31:10-31]

Proverbs 31:10-31 is noted as the passage on a Virtuous Wife. Read it in any translation you have available, your favorite or another, and you find a beautiful treatise on how a noble, godly woman, a virtuous wife, conducted herself.

This passage has provided guiding principles for me for a long, long time. Go back with me to a cold day, February 15, 1945. I was in Choestoe Baptist Church, sitting with my family, feeling desolate and mourning. We were at the funeral of my beloved mother who had died on Valentine’s Day, February 14. My older brother was not present. He had been severely wounded, and was somewhere in a field hospital in far away Italy as his plane had gone down in World War II combat. Our pastor, seeking to give comfort to my family and our gathered friends and neighbors, read Proverbs 31:10-31 and gently expounded upon how Azie Collins Dyer was an epitome of what King Lemuel had stated about a virtuous woman. In my sorrow, a light shone through. The words of this Proverb suddenly had personal and powerful meaning. I was fourteen years of age. Ahead of me lay a life without a mother. I could not imagine what life might be like without her guidance. But in that moment of great personal grief and loss, God penetrated my thoughts and challenged me to live a life as King Lemuel had described for the virtuous woman.

You might say that through grief came hope. I wanted to live so that when I should come to the time of my own memorial service, like my mother, this beautiful and expressive passage could be read and the description would be true. I have read the passage many times. I remember that lonely, grieving teenager on that winter day in February, resolving to follow the ideals set forth in this passage. To do so would be a way to honor the memory of a godly mother. But at the same time, to hold to the principles of character, industry and purpose would provide direction for life and work. The poetry and power of the words appealed to and comforted me on that cold February day. But as I became more familiar with them, they became goals to live by.

I have often failed, but the spark set aflame at a time of great sorrow has been as a glowing candle lighting my way. God’s Word can be a bright flame and give direction.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Wednesday, August 4, 2010