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On Mother’s Day, I mentioned that Proverbs 31 might be an intimidating description for Moms, but it doesn’t need to be that way. This chapter lists what is possible when a woman is fully committed to God, her husband, and her children.
Her faithfulness is her superpower which unleashes so many good things for those around her. Or as we said it: Her nobility helps her be a king maker.
I concluded by saying that men have an important role to play in order to honor the king-making power which the godly women in his life have unlocked. This is a man’s superpower! Together, God-fearing men and women can create a legacy of king makers. But separated or self-focused men and women can create a legacy of king breakers.
(Check out all of the Scriptures I mention in this post here.)
The Hebrew word for noble is used five times in Proverbs: three times for the godly superwoman (Proverbs 12:4, 31:10, 31:29), and twice for the godly superman (13:22, 31:3).
Remember that this word is also translated in different versions of the Bible as excellent, virtuous, and strong in character.
In Proverbs 31:3 the word vigor for men is attached to that same Hebrew word. In this context, the word can be defined as strength, efficiency, ability, or wealth.
On Mother’s Day, we said that Eve is the “help meet” (as the old King James Version says), which means that she is the key that unlocks Adam’s potential. The teaching throughout Proverbs says that men can squander this unlocked potential by…
- …forgetting God’s laws—Proverbs 31:4-5
- …not stewarding the unlocked leadership opportunities in our marriage, parenting, work, or community involvement (Proverbs 5:15-20; 2:1-5, 12-17; 22:29; 31:23).
In essence, we cancel the definition of vigor that we saw above, changing strength to weakness, efficiency to inefficiency, ability to inability, and wealth to poverty.
On Mother’s Day we looked at virtuous Ruth who used her godly superpower to unlock the potential for Boaz, the man who would become her husband. Let’s look at his example:
- he was called a man of standing because his righteousness was well known in Bethlehem—Ruth 2:1
- he was obedient to the smallest details of the law—Ruth 2:3; Leviticus 19:9-10
- he honored his father by following his example—Matthew 1:5; Joshua 2:1-24, 6:23
- he was an honored employer—Ruth 2:4
- he was also (just like Ruth) called a man of noble character—Ruth 3:7-11, 14
A Dad’s superpower looks very similar to a Mom’s superpower. The godly woman unlocks the potential, and when the godly man carefully stewards that potential, he is also using his godly superpower (Luke 12:42-43, 48)!
Guys, when we use our God-given superpower, we honor Him and the godly women in our lives who have made this possible for us. We do this by…
- …faithfully loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength—Proverbs 31:4-5; Mark 12:28-31
- …caring for our bride like Jesus cares for His bride—Ephesians 5:25
- …honoring the legacy of our parents—Ephesians 6:2-3
- …passing on a godly heritage to our children—Ruth 4:21-22
This is God’s design. And it is God’s delight when we live this way. So we must make the choice to either carry on the godly heritage that was handed down to us, or reverse the ungodly heritage that we may have inherited.
Godly men and women unlock and perpetuate their God-given superpower by giving their heart, soul, mind, and strength to God. And then God will continue to empower us as the spouses, parents, and leaders in our community that He desires for us to be!
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Craig T. Owens 