SHE 31 - Woman Of ValourSample

Our Proverbs 31 woman knows what she’s doing. She doesn’t leave things to chance. She is ready for anything and prepared to face what is to come. If a storm were to come, our Proverbs woman has the provision that she needs. She works hard and has a storehouse to draw from. 

In verse 16 it is written “She makes sure her dealings are profitable; her lamp burns late into the night.” At the time that the book of Proverbs was written, electricity didn’t exist. People would generally operate according to the sun - they’d get up when it was light and go to bed when it was dark. People who were able to have a lamp burning late into the night had the resources to do that - quite literally, money to burn. These people had access to oil and other flammable sources to keep the lamp burning after night fall. Our Proverbs 31 woman’s lamp burns late into the night - basically, her resources don’t run out.

Consider: Does your lamp burn late into the night?

These days, many of us have access to electricity. Most of us reading this won’t be using oil lamps to have light at night. But as we dig a little deeper, we find solid principles that we can use in our own lives. Hear me right, this isn’t about having endless amounts of money. It’s not about how much we earn. It’s not about how much or how little we have. So what is it really about? Stewardship. It’s about what we do with what we have - what we do with what God has given us. It isn’t limited to money either. What about our energy, our time, our homes and other resources?

Context: Why bother?

When we steward what we have well, we’re prepared for storms. When we trust God with what we have, he can multiply it in ways that we could only imagine. We need only look at John 6 and read about the little boy whose packed lunch fed 5000 people to see that!

Stewarding what we have means that we’re not wasteful with what we’ve been given. We recognise that what we have comes from God and we honour Him with that. Stewarding our resources well will lead to fruitfulness and who doesn’t want to live a fruitful life?

Over to you: Ask yourself…..

If a storm were to come, would you be ready for it?

• If so, how can you help and support others to keep their lamps burning late into the night?
• If not, what one next step can you take today to begin stewarding better all that God has given you?