The Spirit Filled

Proverbs 31 Woman

By Emily Mockovciak

“She rises while it is yet night and gets food for her household and assigns her maids their tasks.” Proverbs 31:15

I am right-handed. It is the one I use with proficiency and expertise. Several years ago I injured my right hand and tried using the left one. 

When I picked up things, they dropped. If I held the pen as tightly as I could and wrote, the words were not legible. God was teaching me a lesson. He was inviting me to put my weak hand in His strong hand.

If I would just place all my insufficiencies, lack and weakness represented by my left hand, into His strong right hand, I could live in the power of His might. 

 When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into our lives, we must realize they come to test our faith and produce endurance. Yet from our perspective, adversity is anything …but happy. 

We have the idea that the Christian life is supposed to be trouble-free, and we often see little value in hardship. However, God sees it differently. 

The word “night”, above, referred to in this verse, implies a spiritual darkness, or trial in one’s life. Dark times often make us victims of overwhelming stress and fear, which tend to imprison, debilitate, and detach us from the safe passage we had known. 

 Instead of fearing for her household the Proverbs 31 woman experiences an urgency of opportunity and stands up in her spirit to the challenge of adversity! 

“She Rises.” She becomes a warrior!! Her faith is stirred and thoroughly committed to conquer any crisis. She wages war, not in the fleshly realm, but in the spiritual realm.

She puts her burdens in God’s right hand. The food she gets is God’s promises of wisdom and victory. 

Purposefully and strategically, she stands up, shakes herself off and internalizes the words “…with God all things are possible!”

There is an incredible Bible story about a woman who is running in a “night” situation. Her name is not recorded, only that she is Lot’s wife and is caught in a conflict of choice. 

The urgency of the crisis, was where she sees her future as hopeless, and the urgency of opportunity, in which she can trust God’s promises to get her through this dark season, were in the balance. 

Earlier she and her family had received God’s warning with His promise of protection. The fire of judgment would not touch them if they would leave, not look back, and trust Him for their future. 

Instead of trusting, her eyes only beheld the “night” of crisis around her. She “looked back” disobediently and was turned into a pillar of salt, a biblical sign for us of her unbelief. 

If only she had obeyed God’s Word and believed this was an opportunity to be all God wanted her to be, her story would be different. 

We may experience similar times when all is dark and foreboding. God knows how terrified and exhausted we are. He has promised we will never meet a trial greater than we can endure and which He has a way of escape. 

Here is one of the great paradoxes of our faith. In a hostile climate faith often rises and trials can produce perseverance which takes the promise to completion. 

Don’t look back. There’s something better ahead for you. 

God’s Word, transformed into a sword in our mouth, declares scriptural truths in the face of fear, lies and accusations. 

When we position ourselves in faith, nail our feet in place, put the shield in front, and face the enemies of the night, God will go beyond your abilities to accomplish His purposes.

When I visualized this woman’s stance, my own soul became pregnant with the same word “Arise.” Stand up, I said to myself, and don’t continue to crouch low in fear about tomorrow. 

It will be better than today. Stop being defeated by negative thoughts and presumptions that hold no truth. Take hold of your faith and believe God will avert the enemy. 

Internalize the word “arise” with the verse, “she holds herself calm in the day of adversity”(Psalm 94:13). Paint them billboard size in your mind, where the battleground really is. 

Sometimes I have had the strongest impulse to run away and abandon the cause, leaving the battle behind. 

One of those overwhelming times was when my husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer. After losing many friends and parents to cancer I didn’t think I could face this suffering, the treatments, and the hospital again. 

However, I also knew running was just a symptom of fleshly insecurity and discontent that was still in me. My history had always been to run the fastest when I lost my way, and then run all over the place seeking help. 

In the midst of these distressing thoughts, I realized my only help was in the Lord. I humbled myself and prayed, confessing the honestly felt fear of being alone should Paul my husband die.

I spoke to God about my distress and released all my burdens to Him. Only God can exchange fear for faith and lies for truth. When I could name and confront the dark tentacles suffocating me, then I could dismantle them. 

My prayer at that time was, “Lord, give me undaunted faith to refuse to allow any distrust of your promises, which would make me waver. I draw strength from my faith. 

I want Your grace to remain, for I am absolutely convinced that you are able to implement your promises of healing in my husband’s life” (Romans 4:20).

Paul had the operation. He is perfectly free from all cancer to this day!

As you read on in this verse, you’ll see that the Proverbs 31 woman accepts additional responsibility to give oversight and protection to her maidens. 

Convinced and assured, she assigns her maids their tasks, and astutely dispenses God’s Word to her household. 

By example she helps the discipled ones overcome the oppression that cloaks itself in darkness over their own lives. Part of the very nature of leadership is reproducing yourself. 

Discipleship, or mentoring, is one of the most vital areas of ministry for women historically and presently. 

Discipleship strengthens a woman’s sense of interconnection and joins her spiritually with others. It is a process in which a wise counselor, or tutor, sees potential in another and comes alongside instructing in the Kingdom of God.

Today women are awakening to their purpose and unique design fashioned by God. As profound prayer warriors, our training as combatants takes place in the secret place of prayer and fasting where we secure the provision for needs to be met. 

Like this woman of valor, we too can emerge victorious, transformed with a warrior instinct that is concerned about protecting home, our household, community, nation and ourselves. 

History reveals a woman’s power can either be used mightily for righteous purposes, resulting in preservation of family, or for evil purposes, resulting in destruction.

As you come face to face with enemies, reach for the sword hidden away under your garment of weakness and humility. 

The sword of the Spirit is forged with strong alloys of tested valuable virtues, which will enable you to overcome the night. You have weapons precisely made for your warfare, which will demolish strongholds.

Be on the offensive not the defensive. It will take a new level of trust on our part. Just keep your weak hand in God’s strong hand. Be all that you can be with Jesus as your guide.

Copyrighted © 2007 Emily Mockovciak. All rights reserved