“She considers a field and buys it; from her profits she buys a vineyard.” Proverbs 31 v.16 (NIV)
In part one of this post, we considered how the place to start with understanding Proverbs 31 was in the fear of the Lord.
“But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.” Proverbs 31 v. 30 (NIV)
Who Gets the Praise
The writer of this proverbs doesn’t say that those who accomplish this list of tasks will be praised but that a woman who fears the Lord will be praised.
It is that fear that propels us to diligently pursue everything else God has for us.
This is a kind of fear that requires careful and consistent cultivation because it grows out of the field of our faith–the field we must purchase through our study, prayer, and complete surrender.
Proverbs 31:16 tells us the woman here considered the field before she bought it. Scripture doesn’t say what this field was exactly, but the word field comes from a root word meaning “to spread.” And many times in Scripture the fields are called upon to praise God as a symbol of the way nature glorifies God.
I don’t think she was thinking about squash or corn when she conserved her field. I believe she was searching for a way to cultivate and spread the truth for the glory of God.
The Field of Faith
The field she sought to buy was the field of her faith. From that field a harvest would come.
But the price was not monetary. The price of the field of faith was her complete surrender. It was her devotion to the Lord in prayer and study.
This field is available for us to purchase as well.
But we must first decide that we are tired of doing life our way, carrying our burdens alone, solving our own problems, sleeplessly tossing the nights away in the tangle of our worries, and living in the state of stress, anxiety, depression, and fear that the broken world wants to keep us enslaved to. We need to humble ourselves and admit that the fruit of the world is rotten to the core.
She considers the field . . . Do I want to keep doing life my way, or do I want to start doing life God’s way?
Buying the Field
When we can honestly answer that it’s God’s way we want, we’ll readily buy that field with our time and energy. We develop a strong desire for the truth in every part of our lives, and we gladly invest in the field where truth grows.
By devoting ourselves to cultivating and caring for this field, we’ll harvest a crop more glorious than anything the world can offer us.
A relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
It is in this relationship that the words of Proverbs 31 take on new meaning.
We become what she was—the hands and feet of Christ.
Republished with permission from Blogs.crossmap.com, featuring inspiring Bible verses about The Proverbs 31 Woman Part 2: Buying the Field.
