It is not just enough to be a Queen with tiara, striking poise, impressive aura of a woman exuding the confidence and charm of a global icon. It is about something else tied to the royal queen-ship; it’s about your value as a woman and queen. Value not placed on the monetary returns but rather the abundant deposits in you from your Father who owns the earth and its fullness. Psalms 24:1; the value derived from your divine positioning and garment that you adorn yourself in. Value from divine positioning in Christ affirms your identity and place; deep seated in Christ that a man has to first find Christ to reach out to you because you are hidden in Christ.
Queen’s code require that the queen wears tiara and/or other queens’ artifact like the fascinators, Beret hats etc. The kingdom queen is however not concerned with physical trail of bracelets and monarchial flowing mermaid dresses. She is concerned with her general adornment of the spirit, her inner man, with which she clothed with dignity and strength.
A while back, I had an opportunity to share in a church in town during a ladies conference. As you can almost guess, the theme was on Proverbs 31 She. I focused only on two verses, vs 10 and vs 25.
A virtuous woman who can find? For her worth is far more than the rubies…
Vs 25, She is clothed in dignity and strength and she will laugh in the days to come.
The biggest Q in my teaching was who then is a virtuous woman? Are they even there? And if they are, where do you find her? The noble woman in this chapter does many things that most of us can’t seem to even reach half of. She is an entrepreneur, she is a homemaker, she works with her hands to make flax, she has helps but she wakes up so early to prepare her households. She considers a field and buys, she plants vineyard, fetches her food from afar etc. I ask myself how this is possible for a single woman who by all means doesn’t even need to work because her husband is a respectable and wealthy man and her attitude impresses me.
Then two things came out strongly during my preparation for the teaching.
The Divine Positioning of this ‘She woman’ and her clothing — dignity and strength; Just like the rubies, which are deep seated in the earth’s ground, not on the surface to be accessed by just any person, the virtuous woman is divinely positioned and hidden in Christ. She is so hidden than a man has to first seek the heart of Christ to find her. And clearly, it’s only a man who is resilient to search deep and tenacious enough who will be able to find her. The Lord, has her hidden in His wings because she has made the Lord God her habitation and she dwells in the shelter of the Almighty, Psalms 91.
The second thing is her adornment. It is written that she is clothed with dignity and strength; so supernatural is her strength that she accomplishes a ‘to do’ list than most of us can’t even half. Dictionary defines dignity as the quality or state of being worthy, honored or esteemed. Basically, the prepared bride is a woman clothed in dignity and knows who she is in Christ but also chooses to act in ways consistent with her high calling as a child of God. How do I respond when someone does something offensive such that the honor in my life as a child of God is not covered in mud? Even in the brink of despair and moments of frustration, a woman of dignity holds back her tongue and holds back her emotional outbursts. That as a prepared Bride, dignity will mean covering a multitude of sin with love, learning not to air dirty linen in public but rather resorting to resolve issues that crack our cerebrum with decency, wisdom, and godly council so that in all things, Christ remains exalted. She never lets her emotion rule her actions but learns to slowly but progressively manage her emotions.
On matters strength, she is clothed with a garment of strength; a kind that is extraordinary whose source had to be mundane. The virtuous woman-Prepared Bride- knows all too well that the flesh may fail her, but the Lord is the strength of her heart, her everlasting portion, Psalms 73:26.She also understands that even young men who are perceived to be strong may grow faint at heart but they that wait upon the Lord, their strength they shall renew and like eagles mount on high, Isaiah 40.28. As such, the Prepared Bride knows that total reliance for strength in the Lord even in marriage is critical. She always reminds herself every morning before facing the world that she can do all things through Christ who strengthens her. Yes, ALL THINGS!
And as Paul writes to the Philippians, her nobility is pegged on her character and virtues he shares in 4:6; she focuses on what’s true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable and praiseworthy!
Prepared Bride knows that she is Far above the Ruby…she has a price tag whose value cannot be attained. Her Worth is in her creator and not her husband to be and therefore, she chooses a path that will see her clothed with dignity and strength from where her identity is established…Jesus.
Chiddy,
The Sisters’ Keeper
Preparing the Bride 006
Next week we look at The Ministry of a wife---Preparing the Bride Series
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