I suspect if there is one book of the Bible that all people can read and not be offended by, that book would be Proverbs. No mention of Jesus. No mention of vital doctrine. Not really any controversial words…unless one doesn’t like to hear the truth.
I have read Proverbs countless times. One chapter/day will get you through the book in a month. For years I have tended to do an every other month approach. It’s easy reading…unless, of course, a convicting point is made. Having read Proverbs many time it is easy to skip over things (although I honestly try not to).
A case in point are the seemingly parallel stories in Proverbs 5 & 7. Chapter 5 contains the warning about straying from faithfulness to your spouse. One verse really stands out: verse 15 which says, “Drink water from you own cistern, flowing water from your own well.” There is no doubt what that verse is saying, especially when the context is considered (a must when reading the Bible). Oh…I’ll let you read the rest of it.
Add to that the scenario painted for us in Chapter 7 of the young man enticed by a woman to go into her bed. The woman says her husband is gone and entices the young man to lie with her. She is generally pictured as a prostitute.
Other than the obvious lesson from both of those-and other Scriptures as well-let me jump off “into the weeds” for a moment. Sin always looks enticing. I’ve never yet seen an ugly sin that I gave into. Maybe I ought to say that I never saw sin pictured as ugly. It has always come off as enticing and beautiful. Sin entices us with a “come see what I got” and it always-A.L.W.A.Y.S.-looks good. One more drink. One more snort. One more toke. One more fortune. One more ticket. One more pull of the handle. It is that “one more” that gets us into trouble! And that is the pull of sin.
It promises but cannot deliver. While it promises contentment, fulfillment, wholeness and satisfaction, it can’t deliver!! It only delivers the opposite.
The real beauty of Proverbs is found in the picture of wisdom seen throughout the book as a woman who is enticing, fulfilling and one to pursue. That is the reality, the truth. Can you handle it or will you fall for the fake?
Dick always says, “Sin gives its best shot first and goes downhill from there.” So very true. God has given us many, many warnings through His Word and also through people who learned that lesson the hard way. How much better our lives would be if we lived by His proverbs.
Not only do I absolutely love what Dick says but I couldn’t agree more.
You’re so right, Bill, that sin never comes across as ugly until you find yourself ensnared by it. May God help us not to fall to temptation, but deliver us from evil!
Blessings!
Ensnared is a good word to use martha. “If I had only known” seems to be the words often used at this point.
I concur, the Proverbs provide wisdom and guidance. No additional cross-reference required.
So true Ryan. They aren’t hard to understand.
I like Dick’s comment too. Sin looks enticing on the outside, and once you fall for it, you realize the idea only looked good from the outside, the inside is full of regrets and disappointment. Sin always has consequences, and leaves you empty.
You hit the nail on the head Gail.