When you think of Biblical Womanhood, when you think of a godly woman from Scripture, it doesn't take long for our minds to go to the Proverbs 31 woman. She seems to have it all.
She's got it together, she does an insane amount of work each day (or so it seems), and she works from sun up to sun down and is never lazy. In fact, her children and her husband rise up and called her blessed. Her husband cherishes her like a treasure or a rare jewel. 
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It's easy to look at this woman as the perfect model of Biblical womanhood. And then if we are honest, it's super easy to get discouraged about her. 
I've been to women's events and heard the negative comments. "Oh great, are we going to hear about the Proverbs 31 woman again?" And I get it. I've been there. Instead of looking to her as a good example, it's easy to try and measure ourselves up against her...and when we do that, all we see is failure. 
When we look at the Proverbs 31 woman, it's so easy to get discouraged, overwhelmed, and to want to move on to other passages. But we also know that everything in God's Word is profitable, it teaches us, it trains us, and corrects us. And when God shows us what an excellent woman is, it's important that we try to understand her story in the right context. 
"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" - 2 Timothy 3:16
So how then should we view this final chapter of the book of Proverbs? How can we take the lessons found in Proverbs 31, and learn from them, rather than get discouraged by them? 
Looking at the Book of Proverbs
The first lesson is that we have to first accurately understand the book of Proverbs. We have to see the larger purpose in the book of Proverbs so that we can then understand what it's final chapter is trying to teach us. 
We have many modern Proverbs today such as:
“A chain is no stronger than its weakest link.”
“A fool and his money are soon parted.”
“A penny saved is a penny earned.”
These are wise sayings that we generally see as true. If someone is foolish and not wise with their money, they soon won’t have it. But this is not always true, is it? There are many foolish people who are wealthy.
These sayings are generally true but not always. A similar comparison can be drawn with the book of Proverbs in the Bible. Proverb means, “a short pithy saying in general use, stating a general truth or piece of advice.”
So the book of Proverbs is full of these wise sayings that we can apply to our lives. It gives us direction and motivation for right living before our God. And we can recognize that if we follow these Proverbs, they will direct us to right living but they won't always work out exactly how we would like. 
“Proverbs is both a pattern for the tender impartation of truth from generation to generation, as well as a vast resource for the content of the truth to be imparted. Proverbs contains the principles and applications of Scripture which the godly characters of the Bible illustrate in their lives.” - Grace to You introduction of Proverbs
As you read through and study the book of Proverbs, one idea should end up taking center stage: The book of Proverbs calls us and encourages us to live a God-Centered life. And that becomes of central importance as we turn to discussing the Proverbs 31 woman.
There's a lot more to be said about understanding the book of Proverbs, so to dive deeper into this, check out my brand new eBook The Proverbs 31 Homemaker.