With her many persuasions she entices him; With her flattering lips she seduces him. Proverbs 7:21 This is a summary statement of all that we've been looking at the past several days about overcoming sexual temptation - only in the reverse - learning from someone who did not overcome it - but succumbed to it instead. Two things led to this fool's demise. First is that he allowed the adulteress to have the opportunity to have "many persuasions" in her time with him. This points to a simple, yet oft ignored, truth about the appropriateness of man/woman relationships outside of marriage. Too often as American's we scoff at other cultures who limit the amount of contact a man has with a woman. We tend to scoff at their emphasis on modesty in clothing too - for which we are double fools in this society. The fact is that there is an appropriate way for men and women to interact - and an inappropriate way. Let me explain. Most affairs begin far from the bedroom. They start with the beginning of an inappropriate relationship between a man and a woman. These relationships almost always begin with one of the other starting to share the problems. With rapt attention the other listens - because usually they share a problem of intimacy with their mate. By intimacy I am not referring to their sexual relationship - but to the fact that they rarely talk any longer. This is due to the busy-ness of life or problems and barriers that have developed over the long-term of their marriage. Since neither of them are really working on this aspect of their marriages - they find someone willing to talk a wondeful thing. They do not intend on committing adultery during that first discussion - but nevertheless - they do enter into a man/woman relating to each other that is inappropriate. This builds as they share more and more - and reveal deeper and deeper levels of intimacy. At one point - sexual tension enters into their relationship. If they do not do a Barney Fife action (i.e. "Nip it in the bud!") they are now on a fast track to adultery. This is because it is not wise for a man to have a "best friend" that is a woman once he is married. In some ways this probably doesn't apply to long-term best friends of the past - although a wise man will shift this kind of friendship toward his wife. But to make a "new" best friend of a woman is never a wise thing to do. There is another scenario here as well - and that is the fool who is already in trouble - who is kinda seeking another woman. This fool already has one foot in the grave - but he is quickly putting the other one in the longer he talks to the woman who is persuading him to have adultery. The wisest thing a man can do when a woman other than his wife makes any kind of remote advance is to run. The Scriptures tell us to "flee youthful lusts and pursue faith, righteousness, love, and peace with those who call upon the Lord with a pure heart." ( 2 Timothy 2:22). The next wisest thing he can do is to tell either an accountability partner of the advance - or honestly - tell his wife. The second is the wisest choice. It truly nips this thing in the bud - and it lets his wife know that she needs to watch this woman. Don't be a fool and ever allow a woman to give any more than one persuasion to entice you away from God and from your marriage vows. The second thing we see in this passage is that this woman catches this man with her "flattering lips." As I've written in another post - men have this thing called an ego. When we are wise to allow only our wives to stroke our ego - or allow recognition from colleagues at work to do this - or our children - we are being discerning. When we do this for even a moment with another woman other than our wives - we are allowing pride and utter stupidity to drive our ego. Believe me when I say that we do not want these things working in our ego for even a moment unchecked. This adulteress takes the time to say nice things about the fool. She strokes his ego with her flattery - which to be honest is something that might be lacking at home. That is why men give in to this trap. Let me help you for a moment. If this woman marries you after your current marriage is destroyed - and then lives with you as long as your wife has - you've got to know that she probably won't be flattering your ego much either! That is why we MUST grasp that these "flatteries" are nothing more than lies. When you hear them think of the cheese on a mouse trap. Looks awfully inviting - except for that snapping bar that will break your neck as soon as you take a bite. Flattery from a strange woman might not break your neck instantly - but know that the bar is coming at some point - and your spiritual and marital neck will be broken - possibly beyond remedy. Men . . . I know that your ego will tell you that it's kinda nice to know that someone still thinks your handsome - wonderful - even sexy. But that little spark you felt in your heart when that happened is prelude to a forrest fire that will destroy beyond imagination. It is a lie - and it is going to be very destructive if you don't see it for what it is. It is cheese, brothers! It is cheese on a trap set to catch and kill you! Don't ever think for even a moment that it is anything less - because when you do - you are one step closer to that bar breaking your neck.
I was due to offer peace offerings; Today I have paid my vows. Therefore I have come out to meet you, To seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you. Proverbs 7:14-15We are continuing in this verse with the entiement and thinking of the harlot, the adulteress, as she seeks to lure a young man into her trap of sexual immorality. This verse is fascinating because it reveals that the adulteress has a religious side to her as well. Her comment to her prey is truly interesting because it speaks of someone who has gone and done their religious duty. Let's take a look at it today and seek to gain wisdom and reject stupidity as a result.Her statement is that her peace offerings are with her. The idea here is not that she has yet to offer them, but rather that her spiritual condition is one who is at peace with God - someone who has already offered this sacrifice to the Lord - and who, as a result, has some kind of stored up religious earnings. She thinks that she has religious credit on deposit - and therefore she can withdraw it in her current actions. This is the mindset of penance rather than repentance. Penance assumes that we can pay for our sins with some kind of religious ritual - and too often is seen as a payment up to date - with the result being that we can sin some more later. Repentance is a change of mind granted by God - with the result that by grace alone our sin is forgiven. Along with repentance is both restortation and regeneration so that we are truly changed. The one who has engaged in repentance IS changed by God - whereas the one doing penance is engaged in a works mentality where they have earned something from God.The adulteress here is stating that she is paid up - and has somehow earned the right to now engage in further sin. Having done her religious work - her religious duty - she is now free to live as she pleases. This is the danger of works-minded religion - it deceives the one practicing it into thinking that after they have sinned, they can just work some more - work a little harder - and all will be well. There is no transformation involved - just another IOU paid in full to God as they continue in their self-made menagerie of religous ritual.Today she has paid her vows . . . what vows? Evidently there is a supposed promise of reformation - but there is no action toward it coming any time soon. The next verse is so telling because in it she says, "Therefore I have come out to meet you, to seek your presence earnestly." Her comment is that having done her religious duty, having made worthless and empty vows, now she is free to engage in her sexual escapades. Her religion is merely a facade to further deceive whatever willing dupe is in her sites. She's ready to roll - now that she has played her religious game for the week - or the day - or however she works to maintain the illusion of being right with God. What a convenient religion this is. The danger here is that we will be drawn into an illicit relationship thinking that we are having adultery with a good person - a religious person. The reality is that we are walking over the pit that has been covered with leaves by the one hunting us. If we buy the lie and step over the hole, we will quickly find that what we've actually stepped upon is a trap. The lie was there to lure us into a false sense of safety. The reality is that we are now caught - and in grave danger.Just one last parting comment though - because this particular practice is even among those of us who are evangelicals. We need to be extremely careful that we are engaging in repentance before God and not just a protestant form of penance. When we come to confess our sins - we don't need to stop there. Too many (myself included unfortunately) just confess their sins - but do not go into the second part of 1 John 1:9. We are all about confessing a sin that makes us feel bad, feel guilty, feel caught - but are we truly interested in God's change in our hearts? The second half of that verse says that we also ask to be "cleansed from all unrighteousness." Here is the forgotten part. We need God to not only forgive - but cleanse us of the mindset and choices that led to that sin in the first place. We need to say to God, "Get rid of every 'unright' behavior, choice, thought, reasoning, and activity." There is where we can camp out for a while and have the Lord do a thorough heart searching in us. There is where we can be protected from the very sin these two verses reveal to us. We can move from penance to repentance - and in so doing - from merely salving our conscience for a few moments to true change.
A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who tells lies will perish. Proverbs 19:9
The battle had not gone well that day. Many of Israel's fighters had fallen on the field. A young Amalekite watched as the king of Israel struggled to stay on his feet. It was evident from the shafts of the arrows sticking out of his body that he had been hit by the archers and would not survive the day. As the events unfolded before his eyes - he watched as Israel's king then took his own sword and fell upon it - then he watched the king's armor bearer do the same. He was horrified as this took place - knowing that this battle was about to be lost badly. But he also saw an amazing opportunity as his eyes became fixed on the crown that lay only inches from the king's fallen body. He quickly rushed to the king and scooped up the crown - put it in his satchel and fled to the rear of the conflict.
As he ran that day visions of grandeur filled his mind. He knew exactly where he was going. He headed for David's camp - for he had heard many speak of David's exploits. "This one will be king some day, mark my words!" Those were the words he had heard from a commander of a hundred who had later defected to David. He smiled a wicked smile as he weaved a web of deceit that would tell the king how he himself had helped the king - and now was bringing his crown to the heir apparent. His plan was completed in his head just about the moment that he reached the outskirts of the camp.
He immediately was stopped by a sentry who asked his business. "I have news of the battle for David," was his reply. He did not miss that the sentry noticed the crown just inside his satchel. Seeing that expedited the process whereby he could see the future king. His mind raced with all that would be done for him. He would be rich and influential at last. All it would cost him was one little lie.
He related his story to David. Israel had fled in battle, defeated before the Philistines. Then David asked of the welfare of the king. He related his falsehood - making it seem that he was being merciful by killing Saul in battle. Now he had come to bring David the crown.
David's response was anything but what he was expecting. He was horrified by the defeat of his nemesis. Wasn't Saul the one who was chasing him around the wilderness? Wasn't Saul the one who supposedly threw a spear at this young man - more than once. The Amalekite's horror was far worse though when he heard David ask why he was not afraid to stretch out his hand against the Lord's annointed? Before he could answer, one of the young men who attended David unsheathed his sword and came toward him. His lie did not yield him riches or position - unless one meant the wealth of pain and the position of a fool as he felt the glinted steel pierce his chest. He was not exalted for his news - but struck down. As his life ebbed from his body he felt the dust from his fall settling around his face. The only reward he had received was that of the death of a fool who thought he could advance himself through lies and deceit.
Solomon surely heard this story from his father, David. Punctuated by this very truth he knew that a false witness will be punished. He will be punished when the web of his own deceit is exposed. How often had he seen this before his very eyes as he experienced it himself - and watched others caught by their own web - rather than catching the ones they intended to mislead.
The liar will pay the penalty of his lies. And if he persists in them - if he continuously lies to others, as this proverb states, he will perish. The one who remains a liar - whose very life is defined by being a false witness - will spend eternity along with the one whose main descriptor is "the father of lies." Lying will get you somewhere. It will get you destruction and devastation for all eternity with the devil himself - the ultimate false witness - the ultimate liar.
The wisdom of the sensible is to understand his way, But the foolishness of fools is deceit. Proverbs 14:8Are you more concerned about your own actions or the actions of others? Today's proverb offers us some pretty heady stuff about the way a wise man thinks about things in life. There is great wisdom for us today if we will open ourselves to what God has to say to us. Here we read that the sensible man has wisdom. To be sensible is to be shrewd and prudent. So a prudent man has wisdom to offer to us today. That wisdom is this, to understand one's own way. It is wise to be able to understand ourselves. This word, "understand" means to discern and perceive. The one who understands himself pays attention to what he himself does. He watches himself far more than he does others. This is not a selfish thing - but rather a desire to grasp why one does the things they do. This man takes a close look at where his actions and attitudes lead him. He looks at his own way - but only so that he can understand where he has gotten himself. He then uses this information for the purpose of change and growth. He studies himself to gain wisdom on how an attitude change - a change in actions - a change in how he speaks - can help him to be a better person. In the context of the Bible - he also does this so he can walk with God more closely and honor Him better in all that he does. He examines himself, considers himself, and after doing this he considers what is right - what is his duty and his responsibility - and then he goes about doing it regardless of what others say or do. This wise man wants to know his own way because he fully grasps that he is the only one he can change. He is not quick to blame others and fault others for his problems. He takes responsibility for himself. This is one of the best ways to improve your mental health. If you are forever blaming everyone else for your problems, you will rarely change - and - you will be filled with bitterness and unforgiveness. You will view yourself as a perennial victim of others. The sum total of who you are will only be what others have done to you. You will think that your own actions don't matter - or have real consequences because you see all your problems as someone else's fault. Oh, and by the way, you will also be a fool who lacks any real wisdom. The foolishness of fools is deceit. This is the second half of this proverb. The fool is focused on deceit. Simply put, the fool lies. He lies to others. He does not want to understand his own way - because he is too busy making up what he would like his own way to be. He seeks to manipulate others - not himself. He uses lies and deceit to dupe others into believing he really is not responsible for his own actions. When caught in a lie - he will use another lie to get out of his difficult circumstances. Most of all, he lies to himself. Every bad thing that happens is someone else's fault. Every problem is due to someone else. His shortcomings are the fault of others who did not do enough to equip and train him properly. He will never change because he honestly does not see the need for it in his own conduct. If others had only done their part, his actions or words or laziness or inactivity would not have mattered. In the end, though, people grow tired of his blame game. Figuring he is either not worth dealing with - or - incapable of being honest with himself - they turn away from him. Two men are pictured here. One sees no fault in himself and turns to deceit to deal with his problems. The other man is prudent - he turns to look closely at himself. As he looks he seeks to understand how his own actions, attitudes, and words affect what happens to him. One man will fail while the other succeeds. One man will forever be blaming others while the other will receive encouragement to change. One will walk the way of fools while the other will live a life of godly wisdom.
That they may keep you from an adulteress, From the foreigner who flatters with her words. Proverbs 7:5 We begin to grasp why wisdom and understanding need to be our sister and kinsman redeemer when we see the way that the adulteress seeks to capture men. The wise father here is offering very sage advice to his son - in an effort to rescue him from the snares of immoral women who would capture him with their wiles. Wisdom and understanding keep us from the adulteress. There is something we need to hear in our day - or any day for that matter. If a man does not walk in this world with his spirit open to the Holy Spirit - he will have the normal abnormalcy of walking in his flesh. I call this normal - because it is the state of all who come into this world. I call it abnormalcy because that was not how God originally made man - nor is it where God wants us to be. Too many men, young and old, walk blind to spiritual realities. This makes them sitting ducks for immorality and every other kind of vice common to mankind. It is only seeing things from God's perspective that will guard us from the adulteress. Thus we need to think in cooperation with the Holy Spirit who desires to give us wisdom and understanding - not with our desires and with our labido. We need to be guarded and protected . . . from ourselves. This "strange woman," which is what the Hebrew literally says, is a foreigner. This term may surprise you, but it has more to do with a "spiritual" foreigner than any kind of nationality issues. God warned Israel about the nations that surrounded her because their daughters would intermarry with Israel's sons. God's concern was that this situation would result in Israel's sons worshipping the false god's that these women worshipped. As a result, these sons would turn from the Lord and follow the false gods of the nations instead of the one true God, Jehovah. The adulteress has a secret weapon in her arsenal. It is one that God warns us of - and yet still hundreds and thousands of men fall for it every day. She "flatters" with her words. Men love for their egos to be stroked and pampered. They love it when a woman says nice things about them - compliments them - and tells them how wonderful they are. (As a man, I fear that this comes from the arrogant prideful thought within me that when they do - they are so right - because . . . well . . . because I just so incredibly awesome!) Oh, here is the danger, men! We want the ego strokes because of our pride. When a man has been married for a while - too often these ego-strokes begin to fade in the marriage due to men being doofusses and due to the natural progression of sin. (Just a note to wives . . . ladies, you cannot ever grasp how important it is for your husband to know you appreciate him - and that you still consider him your hero - and a warning as well is needed here. If you don't do this - or think its just dumb to say things like this cause you've been married 5, 10, 20, 30 years. I can promise you that at some point, some other woman may begin complimenting and flattering your husband. He is still responsible to be godly, be pure, and be faithful. But that task becomes all the more difficult - when he receives no encouragement at home - no ego-strokes - no compliments. This makes it harder to resist when someone finally appreciates him. This is not meant to justify unfaithfulness - it just hopefully helps you see that your God-given task of being his helpmate (which includes encouragement and seeing him as your hero) will make it so much easier for him to see the smooth, flattery of the adulteress for what it is . . . a trap!) The adulteress uses flattery to trap a man. She uses compliments and smooth statements as bait for another woman's husband. The word for flattery means words that are smooth and slippery. What a picture of the deception and the lies that are at work here. She worships herself and her own desires - and she is working hard through her slippery, smooth comments to get this poor sap to join her in her worship. He can worship himself and enter into her worship of herself through an illicit relationship. She catches her prey by luring him in through the baited compliments she places into her trap. Wisdom and understanding are essential to delivering us from such things. God's viewpoint is simple men. Are you married? Do you presently have a wife? Then this is totally and completely out of bounds! If this is absolutely outside of God's will for you - then who could be behind such counsel and such temptation? We need to see these compliments for what they are. They are bait on a hook! If you nibble at the bait - a hook is going to tear through the flesh of your lip - possibly rip open your jaw - and no matter how hard you fight, you're going to be reeled in and mounted as a trophy on Satan's wall! My how that description just changed how we view the flattery and slippery speech of the adulteress! We went from being enamored with her beauty and the promise of ecstasy - to feeling sick at our stomachs at the thought of a hook tearing through our skin and the pain that it would yield. Good!! That is what wisdom and understanding are supposed to do. They are supposed to take the silly trappings off of the devil's lies - off of our flesh and its deceptive thoughts - and show us the horror of what truly lies ahead. This is why wisdom is to be our sister - and understanding our kinsman redeemer. They can take the most sensual, inviting situation and show it for what it is. It is going to be horrible! It is going to be bondage! It is going to be regretted in the end! May God give us grace to see these things - to wake up out of the stupor of our fleshly sleep - and see the truth before it is too late.
A trustworthy witness will not lie, But a false witness utters lies. Proverbs 14:5 The trustworthy man is the witness who does not lie or bend the truth. He is dependable and reliable. What he says he will do. There is also the reliability of what he says - when he says it - it is the truth. In Jesus' day some religious hypocrites would say that it was fine to bend or misrepresent the truth - unless you were swearing to tell the truth - or basing your statement on some oath you made to speak the truth. To Jesus this was totally unacceptable. He said, "Let your yes be yes and your no, no." Your word is your bond. This is the attitude of the trusthworthy witness. Jesus said that anything beyond your word being your bond is of the evil one. This may sound a little harsh - but to couch anything in lies - and to make your word something other than the truth is satanic. The trusthworthy man WILL NOT LIE! It seems simple - but the false witness utters lies. We are not used to such blunt talk in our day of bending and stretching the truth. We are used to things like spin and qualified statements. Such is the world we live in where truth lies fallen in the streets - especially in the streets of Washington D. C. There is much that the Bible says about a culture that has tossed truth to the side. It will be a difficult world to live in - one fraught with troubles. That is why speaking the truth is important. That is why God put this one in the 10 Commandments - "Thou shall not bear false witness." This becomes even more important when sharing the way of salvation. When we become witnesses to the gospel - we need to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Too often in our day we have genius' who have decided that we can package the gospel in a way that is less offensive and that will garner greater receptivity. There is a word for those who practice this kind of foolishness - false witnesses. We need to share the gospel just as it is - as good news! But we cannot hide the sinfulness of man - or the work of the law in condemning sinners before a holy God and still be a truthful witness. We cannot take the Lordship of Jesus Christ and repentance and lay them aside because they lower our success rates - and still call ourselves God's witnesses. These things are nothing more than lies. One thing we should remember when sharing the gospel - and honestly - when sharing anything. Truth may hurt - it may offend - but it is the only thing that will set men free. To share anything else is simply putting ourselves in the camp of those who are false witnesses. Some may say that if we do this - we won't see as many people saved. My answer to them is that it is the ONLY way to see people saved. Salvation is God's work - not ours. If we do not speak His truth - and trust Him to open a man's heart, granting repentance and faith in Jesus Christ - no one will be saved. Be a truthful witness. Refuse to lie - no matter the issue. In time men will come to know you as one who speaks the truth . . . and they will trust you. The other option here is out of the question.
The acquisition of treasures by a lying tongue Is a fleeting vapor, the pursuit of death. Proverbs 21:6 Being a wealthy man is not sin - there are many wealthy men who honor God with their lives and their testimony. The problem often is not wealth itself, but how we deal with wealth - and here - how we get it. We are told by Paul in his letters to Timothy that is it the "love of money" that is the root of evil. How do you go about gaining your treasures? Here the foolish man goes about gaining his by a lying tongue. He uses deceit to gain his wealth. He lies about his abilities - or about his product in some way - or he uses deceit to lure others into a financial trap whereby he profits from their misfortune. But the Lord instructs us in Proverbs that this way of gaining a fotrune is a "double-loser" in the end. Let's see why. First, we read that such a plan is a "fleeting vapor." What a descriptive phrase this is. First we have the idea of something fleeting. This refers to something blown or driving away. Psalm 1:4 tells us that the wicked will be blown away like the chaff of the grain. Again in Job 32:13 God uses this word to speak of how He will rout the evil man - blowing Him away like wind blows the dust of the earth effortlessly. The second word is vapor. This word refers to just what it says - a small whisp of water vapor that would vanish almost as soon as it appears. What is speaks of is more interesting. It speaks of vanity, emptiness, and meaninglessness. It is the favorite word of the book of Ecclesiastes - where it is used thirty-five different times to speak of how life is like a breath. Put together, these two words intensify one another. Thus we see that gaining treasure by lying is like pursuing the most momentary of vapors - one that is even more vain and empty than any you've ever seen. Thus, the first loss is that of a meaningful life here on earth. To chase after wealth by lying and deceit is to make your life worthless. It will have all the value of a breif water blowing away in the wind. Not exactly what most people are searching for in life - is it? The second loss you experience is much scarier than the first. God tells us that living this way is the pursuit of death. Now there is a phrase you don't hear very often. "Hey, Bob, let's go out later today and pursue some death!" The phrase itself simply means that someone is chasing after or hunting something - here - death. So we learn that we are not only hurting ourselves here and now with a meaningless life, but that we are also harming ourselves for the life to come. That person is hunting after their own death. They're pursing dying. What is sad is that all of those who live this way describe their pursuit and use of money as, "really living." The fact though is that their pursuit of false riches - results in a very real death. Reading this encourages us to see the pursuit of the wrong kind of treasure as a dangerous thing. It is something deadly - killing those who engage in it. It also helps us, as Proverbs often does, with a picture of what we're doing. While the world sees such activity as harmless and even adventageous because of the things you can buy and do with it, the Word of God paints a much different picture. Living this way is pictured as chasing our own death and destruction. It is pictured as the most foolish and meaningless of lifestyles. And hopefully, such a picture will turn us from pursuing things that actually make us poor rather than rich.
12 To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things; 13 From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness; 14 Who delight in doing evil And rejoice in the perversity of evil; 15 Whose paths are crooked, And who are devious in their ways; Proverbs 2:12-15
Why is wisdom needed? Well for many in the modern mindset, maybe it isn't. They contend that the basic nature of man is good. Yet the very reason for wisdom is the fact that evil exists. But we are not being told about evil in theory - we are being told here that evil men exist. The battle with evil in theory is one only in our minds - but a battle with evil that actually involves evil men - that is another story altogether.
The first thing we learn is that there is a "way of evil" that exists in our world. We are facing those who have developed lifestyles that embrace evil. The facts are in - and those facts clearly delineate for us that man is fallen. The facts also indicate that being fallen, man has developed a whole way of life that is contrary to the will of God. If we are not careful and wise - we will find ourselves following that path - that way of evil. According to Solomon, we need to be delivered from the way of evil. Maybe this is why we hear John telling us, "Do not love the world or the things of the world, if anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him."
The way we are drawn into this way of evil is by men who speak perverse things. This perverse speech involves saying things that distort and deviate from what God has said and what God wants. It is deceptive, corrupt speaking that either denies the Word or twists it until it suits our fallen appetites. That's why we need wisdom and discretion - the ability to distinguish between things godly and ungodly. We need to know when an "evil man" is trying to deceive us and lead us astray.
The evil man leaves the paths of uprightness to walk in their darkness. Here it is again - the fact that there is an entire walk and path that is ungodly. But we also learn that there is a corresponding walk that is upright and godly. The evil man leaves God's ways and chooses those that are dark instead. We learn again from John that the ungodly hate the light and do not come to the light. That is the way of the evil man. That is also why we need wisdom and understanding - to remind us that fellowship with the evil man means fellowship with darkness. It seems that God is trying to get us to see that there is a light/darkness - good/evil - godly/ungodly situation in life.
Worldly wisdom equates the best of thinking and acting to mankind. That is why they are shocked with evil rears its head. They want to think the best of man - when the truth is man IS capable of the worst atrocities. Proverbs tells us that there are those men who "delight in doing evil and rejoice in perversity." We almost shrink from these statements - yet that is what is said here.
If there has been a "fall" of mankind into sin that has corrupted them utterly - then it really isn't that much of a stretch that man rejoices in evil and perversity. To fallen man - evil is good and good is evil. Isn't that what we see today? In our world evil is called good and good evil. They consider the things of God strange and His commandments as burdensome. They see freedom as bondage and their current state of bondage as freedom. Delight in doing evil then becomes the norm - and it should not be all that strange to see those devoting entire programs on television and articles in writing to rejoice in how they pervert the straight paths of God.
Look at the sexual revolution of the 60's as an example. The morals of the past were thrown off (possibly the biggest lie of that period was to deny that such things had always been happening - just that they were done far more secretly). But I think that the shock was not that morals were cast aside, but that now those acting immorally were rejoicing openly in their perversity. The movement was not just a desire to set aside what is right - it was a rejoicing in what heretofore was considered evil. What is even more amazing to me is that several generations of this behavior has led to society adopting such actions as normal - and now even certain segments of society say we should rejoice in evil. NOW we get why we need to cry out to God for wisdom, discretion, and knowledge to escape such a fate.
The final statement about the way of evil is that their direction in life becomes like their heart. Their paths (again the word for lifestyle) are crooked. Crooked is the Hebrew word 'iqqesh'. It means something that is morally, religiously, and socially perverted. This perversity comes from the source of an evil, deceitful, perverse heart. No longer are certain actions perverted - but the whole direction and path of their life runs counter to the truth of God.
Their lifestyle is finally described as being devious. This is the last straw. It describes a person who has followed their perverse and wicked ways to the point where they now despise and reject God's ways. They find them abhorrent. What is worse is that they are utterly blind to their condition.
What we have described for us is the natural degradation of fallen men. They may begin with the remnants of God's image within them - but as they continue in their perversity they soon scald their conscience and harden it to the point where they no longer feel any shame in their sin. By the way, this is exactly what is taught to us in Romans chapter one. We learn that man begins with denying God and being ungrateful, but ends with those who cheer on the wickedness of man - preferring their own perversity to anything God has to offer. In light of such an ignoble end - we see why Solomon impresses on his son the importance of crying out to God for wisdom and understanding. There is too much at stake here to live and let live. The fall of man guarantees that what starts as a mere snowflake will become a massive ball of snow that destroys all in its path. May such a vision of the destructive power of our core perverseness motivate us to a passionate cry for God's wisdom and a desperate search for His ways and paths.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. Proverbs 27:6
Which would you rather have - wounds or kisses? Without more information, just about anyone would answer kisses. Yet when this proverb is through with us, we might want to rethink our answer.
What exactly is a "faithful wound?" To be faithful here means to provide stability and patience. The faithful wound of a friend will help us be built up, supported, nurtured, and established. How could a wound do that? Well, we are speaking of a wound of a friend - not a wound on a battlefield. Our friends wound us when they know that difficult words must be said. They don't take any pleasure in wounding us. Unfortunately they see the need for a difficult statement - a correction - a word of warning about something they see in our lives. They say it to prevent problems not cause them. They see that the wound is necessary in the short term - becuase greater damage will result in the long term without it. So they speak - risking misunderstanding - risking offence - risking making us angry. Yet they see that not speaking - not wounding would be even worse. In fact, not speaking would be the most unfriendly thing they could do.
The kisses are those of an enemy . . . enough said. But it might help us to see how they are described. An enemy gives only deceitful kisses. Thus we learn right off the bat that we cannot trust actions alone - the outward can be deceitful. As God says often - the issue is the heart.
The word "deceitful" actually means to be multiplied. It actually speaks of someone who does more - or does bigger - or does more numerously than normal. Thus the deceitful person over does it in order to cover the lying nature of his or her actions.
So what can we learn from this proverb? First we can learn that when someone is giving us far more affection and congratulation than normal, we might want to be careful about basking in their adulation - it might be deceitful in nature. It might have ulterior motives behind it. Second, we also need to learn to accept the wounds of our friends as gifts rather than grating comments that get on our nerves. This is one time where it is better to receive a wound than a kiss. For the kiss may only be a prelude to something far worse, while the wound is given only for the purpose of blessing us in the end.
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