Have you ever hear the story about our life like a tapestry. Many times we are just viewing the backside of a tapestry. . It appears to be nothing more than many threads that are tangled, frayed, occasionally knotted, and seemingly random. Nothing really makes sense. It’s no wonder people lose heart, give up, and abandon their commitments. But our eyes are not seeing as God sees. It’s only when you turn a tapestry over that you see the art: the rich colors, the texture, and the patterns that can make a tapestry a thing of astonishing beauty. We are now on the 21st verse of Proverbs 31 about making herself coverings of tapestry (many versions say bed coverings). Tapestries are often works of art and they provided the practical comfort of insulation for your wall or a divider for privacy around your bed.
These tapestries were to cover her family while they slept but these tapestries also surrounded the entire bed area for privacy. Jesus as the Living Word and then the Bible the Written Word serve these functions for me. FIrst, I need to be dressed in Jesus Christ and His living sacrifice he made for me so that I can be dressed. Second, I need the written word as the Holy Spirit illuminates meaning and transformation in my life. His Word envelops me so that I can have private communion with God anywhere. Many times like the tapestry, we think we have failed. We think that we are not becoming more like Christ. We may feel like giving up. However, we don't always see the beautiful tapestry God is seeing front the front fo the tapestry. We are just seeing threads but God is weaving into our life one thread at a time the fruit of His Spirit to make us the beautiful bride of Christ. Again, it represents that we belong to the King. We need to be dressed appopriately to join the feast.
Read Matthew 22:1-14 about a wedding feast prepared by the King. Everyone had an excuse why they couldn't make it. Then the King sent out a servant to gather people off the street. The day arrived and one of the guests was not wearing "wedding attire" and was thrown out. " Here's the background: In Jesus' day, guests coming to a royal banquet were expected to wear festal garments. For the wealthy, that meant embroidered robes and gowns adorned with precious jewels. For the poor, it meant the best clothes you had, freshly washed. If you could afford it, you'd wear white, and, if you couldn't, you'd wear as close to white as possible. Commentator Richard Bauckman says, "Wearing festal garments indicated one's (full) participation in the joy of the feast." (Journal of Biblical Literature, Fall, 1996, pp. 485-486)"
The Proverbs 31 women is not just making herself coverings of tapestry bur her clothing is silk and purple. The soldiers dressed Jesus in a purple robe right before his death on the cross. I have read that the Proverbs 31 woman represents the church dressed in righteousness. We can't dress any old way we want to attend the wedding feast of the Bride (the church) and Bridegroom (Jesus).
If you go through the Bible, you will see many accounts of clothing and how we are to be dressed. In the Old Testament, Adam and Eve tried to clothe themselves with fig leaves after they sinned. Then God had to kill an animal to clothe them properly. In Ephesians, we are to be dressed in the armor of God (belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, helmet of salvation, sandals of peace, shield of faith, sword of the spirit).
For the last few days, I keep hearing the Solid Rock hymn in my head. These words have been imprinted on my heart "When He shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in Him be found, Dressed in His Righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne" (The Solid Rock).
We as women should be concerned with our inner beauty. This post is more about being clothed with Christ and our inner beauty rather than outer beauty or physical clothes we wear. I know he is asking me to be clothed with the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. I will write more about this on the next post.
It is important to ask how you are dressed inwardly.
Scriptures:
Proverbs 31:21 - She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.
1 Timothy 2:9-10 - likewise also that women should adorn (clothe) themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.
Observations:
1. The bed coverings in many translations seems to be coverings of tapestry which is a pice of thick, textile fabrics with pictures or designs formed by weaving colored threads. I think it is interesting to use the word tapestry as if we look on the back we would only see threads but we turn it over and would most likely see a beautiful design. This reminds me of the story that our life is like a tapestry that God is weaving. We can't see everything he is doing and many times if we just look at parts of our life, it doesn't look so beautiful because we don't see what He is weaving in our lives.
2. Women are to be clothed with modesty and self control in their good works (God prepared in advanced for us and based on His righteousness).
Application:
Before we get into be clothed with modesty and self control or with a gentle and quiet spirit, we need to address whether we are naked, dressed in our own filthy rags or in Jesus' robes of righteousness.Our outer clothes are not as important as we are dressed inwardly. If we are dressed inwardly with Christ, we will dress outwardly with modesty to reflect beauty.
Are you Naked?
Do you remember the story The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Anderson? In this story, two rascals, pretending to be weavers (tailors), tricked the king. They convinced him that they could weave new clothes out of the most exquisite stuff imaginable. These clothes had the unusual property of becoming invisible to every person who was unfit for their office, or those who were exceptionally "stupid" (Andersen’s word). No one wanted to lose their job or appear stupid so they all joined in on the lie. They all said how wonderful the clothes were. Then a child yelled out innocently "but he doesn't have any clothes on." The truth alarmed the King but he had too much invested in the pretense to admit the truth.
It is a tragedy when we go on in a pretense thinking we are covered when we are not. This category includes people who think they are wearing Christ but they are not trusting Him and living by His Spirit and power. We are living a lie, a pretense, a hypocritical life.
Dressed In our Own Filthy Rags
There are others that are not really pretending to be clothed but they are working very hard to earn their robes of righteousness. They have not trusted Jesus and received His clothes of Righteousness. After Adam and Eve sinned, they covered themselves with fig leaves. These fig leaves were not adequate. God had to kill the first animal as a blood sacrifice to cover Adam and Eve. Eventually, Jesus' sacrifice and his life and blood covers us completely once and for all when we believe and trust in Him. We are to put off old life and put on Jesus.
Clothed with Christ's Righteousness
I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, (Isa. 61:10 - NIV). With this category, we are to ask whether we trust in His salvation and His robe of righteousness not my own acts of righteousness.
Are you dressed for the wedding feast?
Daily, I need to put on the armor and dress as Jesus tells me to dress. This comment from the commentary on the parable of the wedding feast is where I am thinking application is necessary in my life. The comment was "Wearing festal garments indicated one's (full) participation in the joy of the feast." I can't half heartedly participate in the joy. I can't be of the world and of God. I can't do what I want and follow God. I can't love Mammon and God. I either will hate the one or love the other. I can't want and have everything the world offers and say I love God wholeheartedly. My application is to live and love God wholeheartedly and to give thanks that He took off my filthy rags and put on His robe of righteousness on me. Again as I write another scripture comes ot my mind about the parable of the lost son. You can read this in Luke 15:11-22. When the rebel son comes home, His Father is so overjoyed he runs to his son and falls on him kissingh im. The Father is not angry or saying "I told you so" when his son comes home. The Father throws a feast. The father puts his robe on his son.
Prayer: Jesus, thank you that by faith through grace you place yourr robe of righteosness on me. Thank you that I don't need to work to earn your love initially or after being saved. Lord, thank you that you promised that the good work you started in my life that you will finish. Thank you Lord Jesus that you are creating a beautiful masterpiece.
