Oh yes. We all know the Proverbs 31 Girl. She's literally perfect. Her life is perfect, and she seems to have it all together. She has a husband who adores her, and she seems to never be lazy. She's smart, strong, and helpful. She doesn't seem to have a care or worry about anything. She's kind, caring, and close to God. Everyone respects her. This is what every girl strives to be.
But what if you're not feeling like a Proverbs 31 Girl? What if your life is falling apart? What if you feel so distant from God you wonder if he is even there sometimes? What if your relationship is failing or you're insecure as to why you have never been in a relationship in your life?
I don't know about you, but I can strive all day long to be a perfect Proverbs 31 girl, but I know I relate to a Psalms 31 girl more, and I think that's okay.
David, speaking in Psalm 31, is having a hard time in his life. The wonderful thing is that he doesn't run away from God but rather gets closer to him. Verse 7 says, "I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul." Before he begins to tell God about his problems, he makes sure to praise him.
Then David begins saying things any girl could relate to. In verse 9, David says "my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief." This is that ugly cry. This is that feeling when your heart is physically hurting and your mind can't think. You can't sleep at night and it feels like no one understands. He goes on to say, "I am a dread to my friends...I am forgotten by them as though I were dead." Sometimes, friends can leave us for a number of reasons. It is in that time that it feels like no is really there. These are the times when I feel the loneliest. David ends his list with "I have become like broken pottery." I think I can relate to this the most. There are those times where I feel absolutely broken. I have tried to live a perfect life, and it seems to last for a moment, but it's fleeting. Very fleeting. Then, I'm left empty again and again. I feel invaluable at times, because really, "How can God use me? I am so broken."
But God, just like many times in the bible, uses our brokenness. He just wants us. He wants our time and attention. We don't have to be perfect, we just have to be willing.
David says, "But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, 'You are my God.' My times are in your hands." I think this is the attitude we should try to have. Even when finals and life in general seem to be killing me, I can run to God right where I am, no matter the circumstances I face. He already knows what I'm going through, he just wants me to take it to him.
The Proverbs 31 girl is an amazing depiction of what we should strive to be, but the Psalm 31 girl shows a picture of an imperfect person getting through life with a perfect God, and that is beautiful.
