Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future.
Proverbs 31: 25
The future.
The Proverbs 31 woman - She smiles at it.
When I think about the future, I'll be honest with you, I don't smile at it.
I look at it with apprehension, confusion, concern.
Not a smile.
When I look at the future, sisters, I don't like what I see. I don't like what awaits my children and grandchildren after we are gone. I can't be certain about what the future here holds for them; for the future I see is very different from the life I have known. It's as if we're in the days of Noah. It's as if the days of persecution for faith in Christ are just around the corner and I want to protect them from all of that.
The Proverbs 31 woman, how was she able to look at the future and smile?
Surely she saw discouragement on the horizon. Surely she saw a future different from the life she currently dwelt within.
A different future. That must be the answer. She saw a future different from the life she currently dwelt within. She lived in this same fallen world, yet she could look beyond the horizon of discouragement, but why?
Because of the Author of the rest of the story. She knew that Author and she trusted Him.
And that is why you and I can look at the future and smile too. We know the very same Author and He has not changed. If I completely trust Him with the future, I can smile because I know the outcome. I can smile because I know the Author who wrote this:
The Proverbs 31 woman - She smiles at it.
When I think about the future, I'll be honest with you, I don't smile at it.
I look at it with apprehension, confusion, concern.
Not a smile.
When I look at the future, sisters, I don't like what I see. I don't like what awaits my children and grandchildren after we are gone. I can't be certain about what the future here holds for them; for the future I see is very different from the life I have known. It's as if we're in the days of Noah. It's as if the days of persecution for faith in Christ are just around the corner and I want to protect them from all of that.
The Proverbs 31 woman, how was she able to look at the future and smile?
Surely she saw discouragement on the horizon. Surely she saw a future different from the life she currently dwelt within.
A different future. That must be the answer. She saw a future different from the life she currently dwelt within. She lived in this same fallen world, yet she could look beyond the horizon of discouragement, but why?
Because of the Author of the rest of the story. She knew that Author and she trusted Him.
And that is why you and I can look at the future and smile too. We know the very same Author and He has not changed. If I completely trust Him with the future, I can smile because I know the outcome. I can smile because I know the Author who wrote this:
For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29:11
and He inspired one of His own to write this -
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.
2 Timothy 4:8
The Proverbs 31 woman doesn't allow her eyes to stop on the immediate future, she fixes her eyes on the eternal future, the one that matters.
And the eternal future gives us something to smile about. That is where I must fix my eyes, imagining the moment He lifts my chin and places the crown upon my brow, and as this verse reminds me, it won't only be me that receives a crown, but it will also be ALL who have loved His appearing.
Which will include my daughters. My family is eternally secure, my daughters have already professed that they love His appearing, therefore I have nothing to fear in the future and neither do you if you know Him as Savior.
We will be there together.
....And forever I will be with the One who died for me,
What a day, glorious day that will be.
At that, my heart can smile.
And the eternal future gives us something to smile about. That is where I must fix my eyes, imagining the moment He lifts my chin and places the crown upon my brow, and as this verse reminds me, it won't only be me that receives a crown, but it will also be ALL who have loved His appearing.
Which will include my daughters. My family is eternally secure, my daughters have already professed that they love His appearing, therefore I have nothing to fear in the future and neither do you if you know Him as Savior.
We will be there together.
....And forever I will be with the One who died for me,
What a day, glorious day that will be.
At that, my heart can smile.
