What does it mean to be a Proverbs 31 woman and how is this relevant to our daughters?

Jason Dohm emphasizes the importance of teaching our daughters the qualities of a Proverbs 31 woman. He suggests that our understanding of womanhood should not be shaped by our own preconceived notions, but rather by the biblical text. Dohm stresses that a Proverbs 31 woman is one who fears and loves the Lord, and it is this reverence that shapes her life in a compelling way. Additionally, she leads a productive and industrious life, often being the first to rise and the last to sleep.

The Proverbs 31 woman is also multi-talented and multifaceted, challenging the common perception of motherhood. She is far from being confined to the home; instead, her life is dynamic and productive, embodying biblical womanhood. Dohm contends that this should be the standard that our daughters aspire to, as it is not a second-rate calling but a life to be celebrated and rejoiced in.

Proverbs 31:30 (NKJV): 'Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.'

We need to be making our daughters so familiar with Proverbs 31. Proverbs 31 is a great corrective for all of us. Here's what I mean by that. If we think about womanhood in a way that doesn't fit with Proverbs 31, we don't need to conform the text to our understanding, we need to conform our understanding to the text. So what we're teaching our daughters needs to make them totally comfortable with Proverbs 31 and Proverbs 31 very familiar to them because that's what we've taught them a godly woman is.

There are a couple of things that jump out to me when I read Proverbs 31. First is how the chapter ends. So there's this description of an amazing woman, but at the end it identifies her as a woman who fears the Lord. Really this amazing woman is an amazing woman and that's the secret sauce. That's why she is what she is, is because she fears the Lord.

She loves the Lord. She walks with the Lord and so her life is shaped in this way that is compelling when you read it. Daughters, do you want to have a compelling life? Start with the fear of the Lord and these other things flow out of it. Another thing that jumps out to me is how industrious she is.

She's up early, she's up late, she's really outworking everyone in the house. And I live in a house like that. I have a hard time beating my wife up and I have a hard time not beating her to bed. She's up early, she's the first one up often, she's the last one up often and the hours in between are spent really productively. Finally I would say this is a woman who is multi-talented.

She has a lot of different kinds of talents and she's multi-faceted. She's a complex person in the good way that you would say that. It really raises the bar on how we think of a mother. People who are thinking, oh you would waste your life just at home have not been introduced properly to the Proverbs 31 woman or to really biblical womanhood. This is a life to be aspired to and rejoiced in, with no feeling that it's a second rate calling at all.