Clothed in Strength and Dignity

Strength and Dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future. Proverbs 31:25

Since 1995, I have had issues with strength. It was then that my husband became very, very sick. We had no idea what was wrong, only that his back hurt severely, and they prescribed physical therapy for him, failing to take an x-ray. The x-ray would have revealed the pocket of infection that seeped into his system and ate away his heart valve. For 17 days he lay in the hospital, having gone from weakness and confusion to surgery to replace the valve to getting a pic line to administer antibiotics for the next month at home. Problem number two was where they put the line...below the elbow instead of above it where it should have been. So there I was with four kids, ages 8 to 14 months, a husband who could sleep through a tornado with a line that needed to be open...I put myself on a heightened state of alert to hear his alarm if the line was bent, for the baby who did not sleep through the night, and tending the needs of my otherwise home-schooled children. When he finally returned to work, I let down my guard...and the strength drained away. I started dropping things, there were days my joints hurt so much that I thought we would have to move to a one-story house, and there were days I could barely get out of the chair. I thought I was dying myself...and 9 months later I finally got the diagnosis...fibromyalgia brought on by sleep deprivation. With sleep meds, my body began to repair itself as I dreamed in technicolor, getting the stage 4 sleep that I had deprived myself of for all that time. Over time, my strength has been renewed, and I lead a fairly normal life these 18 years later.

I learned to appreciate strength. When one has it, it is taken for granted. That power, that endurance, the ability to hold a coffee cup without dropping it...the things we assume we will always be able to do without thought until we hit 100...it is a gift. The moral strength to stand against the things that attack us or lure us to sin, that also is a gift. And when the body lacks strength, the mind soon follows, and vice-versa. The lack of strength of the mind can lead the body to weakness through lack of discipline or consequence of actions that bring illness or disease. So for God to cloth us with strength, we are blessed. We are covered, protected from the elements, by God's grace and mercy. The beauty of a strong, caring person is a garment that people see that is respectable and clean, reflecting the style of graceful comeliness that is God's provision.

Dignity is a reflection of that strength. It is worthiness, honor, and esteem resulting in a seriousness in manner and formal reserve...meaning someone who conducts themselves in a calm manner when the world around them would “lose it.” She behaves in a way that can be respectable at all times. She is clothed in respectable, honorable garb of decency and reserve. I picture a queen or someone like Margaret Thatcher...they may feel like screaming at the loyal opposition, but they carry themselves in a way that is expected of those who are in charge. There is no room for childishness or selfishness...there is a levelness of word and action that befits the role they are called to. God is the strength to act with dignity when all the forces pulling against us make us want to throw our temper tantrum.

This is the story of Job and his wife. She did not act in strength and dignity when his world, and hers, were turned upside down. They both lost their livelihoods, their children, and their goods, and he lost his health, to boot. She crumbled under the weight and told Job to curse God and die. I think that it was not really him she was speaking to, but expressing her own unhappiness with God. She was the one cursing God, and she was the one who died inside, unable to bear the losses of everything she had and then forced to watch her husband, once strong and respectable, suffer in the body as well. She refused to be clothed with God's strength, resulting in her acting and speaking in a way that showed no dignity on her part. But Job was clothed in sores and boils, but he was also clothed in strength and dignity. He accepted as well as any suffering human could, the circumstances the Lord allowed in his life. Not that he didn't complain as the days wore on, but he mustered all the faith he had to worship in his suffering and trials, even while knowing that he didn't do anything to deserve this fate. The physical strength failed, but God's strength sustained him until the day of healing came and he saw God in a deeper way and worshiped with more faith than ever.

To be clothed with strength and dignity, trusting God through the ups and downs of life, we can smile at the future. This world is not the end...and our future is secure in His hands. We learn to trust Him, that all His plans for these days and for eternity are all good, even the “bad days” that we dread. His strength is renewed in us, and the smile returns...the smile of knowing He is our God and that all He does is good, even when our strength is small and our dignity wanes. He is the Renewer...and someday those characteristics will be ours forever.

Amen.