She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong.
Proverbs 31:17
Those of us who have come to Christ arrived as a broken mess desperately in need of replacing our own understanding with the true wisdom only God can give. All of us have areas that we try to protect from this change. For me, it was beliefs about women's rights and liberation and equality that I cradled and rebelled against God for.
I cringed whenever anyone brought up the need to be submissive or Ephesians 5:22. I hated hearing anyone talk about God's model for marriage and the different roles of men and women. I even skipped over verses I didn't want to think about or be confronted by when I studied Scripture. When I heard the word 'submit' all I could picture was a malnourished woman dressed in rags and sullenness fearfully taking orders from a barking husband.
I won't go into a deep discussion on how my obviously wrong my idea was in this post, but I bring it up because this week's verse is probably the perfect antidote for that kind of thinking. Yes, God calls wives to be submissive to their respective husband, but he never expects women to be weak.
The virtuous woman is strong! We've seen already that she's a hard worker and it shows not only in her home, but everywhere she goes. She knows that to submit to her husband does not mean she is incapable, unintelligent, or demeaned. Submitting does not keep her from being the strong woman she needs to be.
This woman also understands that being strong is not the same thing as being rebellious. Her strength is not displayed in standing up against authority or having the "courage" to break the rules.
Lets rethink what it means to be submissive, what it means to be strong, and how we can reach a balance between the two.
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