We are turning a corner in Proverbs.
We might summarize chapters 1-4 as follows:
· Chapter 1-Wisdom, we all know we should be wise,
· Chapter 2-But do we really understand the consequences when we are not?
· Chapter 3-Because it would seem that our Actions demonstrate we are unwise,
· Chapter 4-And in life there are always choices to be wise or unwise.
Which leads to Chapter 5 and beyond, where these wise and unwise choices are described.
The choice, at the highest level, is either follow God in living—or succumb to the temptation to turn away from God, make ourselves into little gods, and die.
If that is not clear enough for me and you—then we are numb to what we are reading.
Further, Proverbs pulls no punches in its description of temptation. Today it talks about sexual temptation.
Verse 3 uses evocative language: “lips that drip with honey” and “speech that is smoother than oil”. This word picture vividly paints that the temptation is real.
Verses 4-6 however drives home the theme, that if we follow the temptress, all that awaits us is death, therefore…
Verse 8 shouts to us—and I wonder,
What don’t we understand about the words KEEP FAR AWAY!
Let’s be clear; much of this text (and there will be more in chapters 6 and 7) is about sexual relations.
Certainly, I have heard people discuss how we each have our own temptation that seeks to lure us from God. They then discuss how the “lips that drip with honey” are a metaphor for whatever pulls at each of us.
Sure, I get it. But can we just acknowledge the we live in a very sexualized world. Can we admit that the church has been described as being “up tight” and “obsessed with” sex—so much so that the church doesn’t even talk about it anymore.
The result? We have lost our moorings. We are disconnected from God with regards to appropriate sexual conduct.
The website, https://fightthenewdrug.org/ cites, “More than 5,824,699,200 hours of porn were watched on the site in just 2019. That’s equal to almost 665 centuries of content consumed in 1 year, on just one porn site.”
If the temptation was not real…these numbers would not be happening…and they are happening to men and women.
Verses 15-19 exhort us with an equally vivid word picture to enjoy the beauty of our spouses. Yet marriage, while beautiful, is not the solution.
The solution is God. Seeking God and being found by Him.
Proverbs will over the next 25 chapters point out temptation after temptation, choice after choice—and it will consistently encourage us to seek Wisdom—to seek God.
Our hope, our only hope, is found in Jesus.
What is pulling at you? Where has the over-sexualized nature of our day dulled your sensitivity, to the point where you see other human beings as objects rather than people?
Turn to Jesus—for He is the source of our life.