The Delight of Faithfulness
Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, help me sort out the advice I receive today. Let me understand which is good, and which is not.
Read Proverbs 5:1-23
[1] My son, pay attention to my wisdom, turn your ear to my words of insight, [2] that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge. [3] For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; [4] but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword. [5] Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave. [6] She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it. [7] Now then, my sons, listen to me; do not turn aside from what I say. [8] Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house, [9] lest you lose your honor to others and your dignity to one who is cruel, [10] lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich the house of another. [11] At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent. [12] You will say, “How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction! [13] I would not obey my teachers or turn my ear to my instructors. [14] And I was soon in serious trouble in the assembly of God’s people.” [15] Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. [16] Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? [17] Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. [18] May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. [19] A loving doe, a graceful deer- may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love. [20] Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife? Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman? [21] For your ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all your paths. [22] The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast. [23] For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly. Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
According to the writer, what benefits are in store for his son?If the writer of Proverbs could be transported to the West he might well be shocked by the level of sexual imagery in the media and by our immodest dress. Yet he would remain wise enough to remind us that most extra-marital affairs require both wandering eyes and itching ears to start. It is not just the “bosom” of “another man’s wife” (20) that attracts the man tempted to infidelity, but her conversation, “smoother than oil” (3). The same is true if we reverse the genders. Both the looks and the personality of another might be attractive, but you don’t have to knock on their door (8) or follow their way to destruction. From the high-profile “kiss and tell” of sordid exposes, leading to serious trouble in the assembly (14), to the quiet depths of heartache in a marriage that breaks down due to infidelity, the story this ancient writer tells is all too familiar today, and its roots are identical: a kind of intoxication (20) that verges on madness. There is preventative medicine for this epidemic: however long you have been married, find joy and sexual delight in your God-given partner, and recognize when innocent conversation elsewhere becomes inappropriate flirting, or worse.
Apply
Whether you are married or not, ask God to help you find his wisdom for your relationships.
Closing prayer
Lord, thank You for the gift of my friends, family, and marriage partner. May I be faithful to all today.
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