Day 30 — A Woman Who Fears the Lord

“Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.”

— Proverbs 31:30 (BSB)

Here we are at the last day of this book! And we end with a verse that sums up everything we’ve learned.

“Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting.”

Charm means being charming: popular, fun to be around and good at getting people to like you. But charm can be deceptive, which means it can trick you. Someone can be charming on the outside and unkind on the inside. And being popular doesn’t make you a good person.

Beauty is fleeting means it doesn’t last. It’s like a flower that blooms and then fades. Every person’s outward beauty changes over time.

The world tells girls that charm and beauty are the most important things. Be pretty. Be popular. Be liked. But God says those things don’t last, and they aren’t what make you valuable.

What does matter? “A woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.”

To fear the Lord doesn’t mean being scared of God. It means loving Him, respecting Him and putting Him first. It means living your life for Him, trusting Him and wanting to please Him more than anyone else. That’s what makes a girl truly beautiful, and it’s a beauty that never fades.

Look back over these 30 days. You learned that God calls you by name and made you to reflect His glory. He looks at your heart, loves real beauty and calls you His daughter, and He sings over you. You learned to escape the comparison trap by running your own race, remembering Leah, guarding your heart from envy, being content, celebrating others and trusting God for your needs. You learned to be a loyal friend like Ruth, to include others, to be drama-free, to use honey words, to handle hurt God’s way and to point your friends to Jesus. You met brave girls of the Bible: Miriam, Deborah, Abigail, Rahab, the servant girl and Mary. And you learned about a heart for God from Hannah, Mary of Bethany, the woman with the perfume and Lydia.

All of it comes down to this: be a girl who loves the Lord.

A true story: Mary Jones was a poor girl in Wales who wanted a Bible in her own language more than anything. Bibles were rare and expensive, so for six years she saved every coin she could earn, from selling eggs, gathering firewood and doing odd jobs. Then she walked twenty-five miles over the hills, much of it barefoot, to buy one. The minister who sold her the Bible never forgot her. He told her story to other Christians, and it helped start a society that has since sent Bibles all over the world. One girl who loved God’s Word helped millions of people read it. You can read her whole story in Brave for God.

Think about it: Looking back over this book, what’s the most important thing you learned about being a daughter of the King?

Try this: Write a letter to yourself about who you are in God’s eyes. Keep it somewhere safe, and read it whenever you forget.

Dear God, thank You for these 30 days. Thank You that I am Your daughter, loved and chosen. Help me care more about fearing You than about charm or beauty. Make me a girl who loves You with all her heart. In Jesus’ name, Amen.