Proverbs 31 as a professional woman - Part 20
Dear loyal readers, I trust you’re blessed and highly favoured.
Please allow me to pause and reflect on 1 Kings 18-19 before continuing the discussion on success principle 6, which says that Proverbs 31 as a professional woman is “nourished and healthy – spirit, soul and body”.
In 1 Kings 18, we read how God used the prophet Elijah to defeat the prophets of Baal and this victory continues to inspire many prayers of deliverance and victory against darkness because it reveals that God is the only God who answers by fire.
Yet, after this magnificent victory, in 1 Kings 19, we read how the prophet Elijah was scared of Jezebel, running for his life and praying to God to let him die.
In response to Elijah’s distress, did God rebuke or strike Elijah with a plague? Did God ask him to pray harder? To fast more? To keep going? To be more resilient?
No, He didn’t.
In fact, God’s response to Elijah was a profound display of love and care. God allowed him to find both spiritual and physical rest. He allowed him to sleep, then He sent His angel to bring Elijah food to strengthen him before setting him on another journey that resulted in more sleep before the Lord eventually spoke to him again.
With all of this evidence before us, are we still convinced that God doesn’t care about your need for spiritual and physical rest?
Indeed, we need to be resilient and work hard.
No doubt.
But Elijah’s story in 1 Kings 19 reminds me that the Lord knows our human limitations and honours the need for rest, yet somehow all of this becomes lost on many of us, because the desire to succeed often overshadows the need to take care of the one thing that does the work – your body.
Moreover, there is an indictment against the professionals who only seek rest when the body is forced to rest – as a result of sickness, extreme fatigue or burnout. I encourage you to read my previous articles titled 'Mental health in the legal profession' (Part 1 and 2).
I wrote those articles in 2021 during Covid-19 and fellow lawyers who read them surprisingly commended me for talking about the unspeakable issue of mental health in the legal profession – a taboo subject. It’s taboo because we thrive on mental resilience, believing that the greater the push, the greater the glory – our clients depend on us to win – but not every aspect of your life should be like a zero-sum game.
Elijah’s story is a reminder that sometimes you need to pause, rest, get nourishment, healing and strength for your body so that you can build a healthy resilience and not just keep pushing with an empty tank.
Very few of us realise this, but Genesis 2:2 should be a constant reminder that: “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all His work.”
Meaning that God Almighty – our Creator, who never gets tired, doesn’t slumber or sleep – rested from all His work – but you, a created being, thinks that rest is for the weak?
Who told you that?
Hebrews 4:1-11 is a confirmation of God’s promise of spiritual and physical rest for His people – I encourage you to read and reflect on it.
In the next article, I will continue the discussion on success principle 6, which says that Proverbs 31 as a professional woman is “nourished and healthy – spirit, soul and body”.
Having previously discussed aspects of the nourishment and health of her spirit and soul, I will focus exclusively on the subtopic of her body as a subcomponent of her overall nourishment and health.
Shalom.
DISCLAIMER: 'Proverbs 31 as a Professional Woman' under the theme 'Embodying and Manifesting Godly wisdom, Success Principles and Effortless Femininity in the Workplace' is not posited on trying to read the professional woman into Proverbs 31 because this will produce an absurd result. However, I have opted to take a principles-based approach, which widens the scope to be applicable to any professional woman – regardless of her age or status.
This column has previous articles titled 'A New Season', 'Seeing God’s Glory Through My Tears' as well as 'Proverbs 31 as a Professional Woman' (the introduction as well as parts 1 to 19) – all published by Namibian Sun newspaper.
I welcome your comments, inputs, queries or concerns. Kindly address them to [email protected]
Please allow me to pause and reflect on 1 Kings 18-19 before continuing the discussion on success principle 6, which says that Proverbs 31 as a professional woman is “nourished and healthy – spirit, soul and body”.
In 1 Kings 18, we read how God used the prophet Elijah to defeat the prophets of Baal and this victory continues to inspire many prayers of deliverance and victory against darkness because it reveals that God is the only God who answers by fire.
Yet, after this magnificent victory, in 1 Kings 19, we read how the prophet Elijah was scared of Jezebel, running for his life and praying to God to let him die.
In response to Elijah’s distress, did God rebuke or strike Elijah with a plague? Did God ask him to pray harder? To fast more? To keep going? To be more resilient?
No, He didn’t.
In fact, God’s response to Elijah was a profound display of love and care. God allowed him to find both spiritual and physical rest. He allowed him to sleep, then He sent His angel to bring Elijah food to strengthen him before setting him on another journey that resulted in more sleep before the Lord eventually spoke to him again.
With all of this evidence before us, are we still convinced that God doesn’t care about your need for spiritual and physical rest?
Indeed, we need to be resilient and work hard.
No doubt.
But Elijah’s story in 1 Kings 19 reminds me that the Lord knows our human limitations and honours the need for rest, yet somehow all of this becomes lost on many of us, because the desire to succeed often overshadows the need to take care of the one thing that does the work – your body.
Moreover, there is an indictment against the professionals who only seek rest when the body is forced to rest – as a result of sickness, extreme fatigue or burnout. I encourage you to read my previous articles titled 'Mental health in the legal profession' (Part 1 and 2).
I wrote those articles in 2021 during Covid-19 and fellow lawyers who read them surprisingly commended me for talking about the unspeakable issue of mental health in the legal profession – a taboo subject. It’s taboo because we thrive on mental resilience, believing that the greater the push, the greater the glory – our clients depend on us to win – but not every aspect of your life should be like a zero-sum game.
Elijah’s story is a reminder that sometimes you need to pause, rest, get nourishment, healing and strength for your body so that you can build a healthy resilience and not just keep pushing with an empty tank.
Very few of us realise this, but Genesis 2:2 should be a constant reminder that: “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all His work.”
Meaning that God Almighty – our Creator, who never gets tired, doesn’t slumber or sleep – rested from all His work – but you, a created being, thinks that rest is for the weak?
Who told you that?
Hebrews 4:1-11 is a confirmation of God’s promise of spiritual and physical rest for His people – I encourage you to read and reflect on it.
In the next article, I will continue the discussion on success principle 6, which says that Proverbs 31 as a professional woman is “nourished and healthy – spirit, soul and body”.
Having previously discussed aspects of the nourishment and health of her spirit and soul, I will focus exclusively on the subtopic of her body as a subcomponent of her overall nourishment and health.
Shalom.
DISCLAIMER: 'Proverbs 31 as a Professional Woman' under the theme 'Embodying and Manifesting Godly wisdom, Success Principles and Effortless Femininity in the Workplace' is not posited on trying to read the professional woman into Proverbs 31 because this will produce an absurd result. However, I have opted to take a principles-based approach, which widens the scope to be applicable to any professional woman – regardless of her age or status.
This column has previous articles titled 'A New Season', 'Seeing God’s Glory Through My Tears' as well as 'Proverbs 31 as a Professional Woman' (the introduction as well as parts 1 to 19) – all published by Namibian Sun newspaper.
I welcome your comments, inputs, queries or concerns. Kindly address them to [email protected]
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article