He who gives attention to the word will find good, And blessed is he who trusts in the LORD.
Proverbs 16:20

Ever have problems paying attention to something? This is a common problem with just about everyone I've ever known. Many of us are avid day-dreamers who take excursions all over the world - or at least all over the recesses of our minds - every day. The problem is when distracted thinking affects how we approach and deal with God's Word and what the Lord is trying to say to us in our daily quiet time.

Today's proverb has excellent advice for those who want to be wise. Pay attention to what God is saying to you in His Word! That is the advice. Simple isn't it. Yet anyone who has ever had a quiet time go awry knows that simple in stating and complicated in obeying is the problem here. I've had quiet times where I spent the majority of my time turning down dog-eared pages in my Bible. I've had other ones where I will finish reading a chapter and wonder what is the world I just read. At other times I've been reading a chapter and been horribly distracted with thoughts poking themselves into my mind between every verse. All this can be downright frustrating at times!

Giving attention to God's word means that we do more than just read over it. The word for attention means to consider something. To place our entire attention toward it also is part of what this word means. Distractions are normal, but when they come we need to stop reading and deal with them. Otherwise we will be in danger of just reading over words - without truly paying attention to them.

Giving attention to the Word also means taking a little time to consider, meditate, and learn from it. I've been guilty in the past of just wanting to read a lot of the Bible - and not think on what I am reading. This particular blog was a way of battling that problem. Writing these posts have made me slow down and truly consider what a verse means. Consider keeping a quiet time journal where you can focus on one verse, or a few of them. That will help you pay attention to what God is saying to you.

The blessing that comes from this is that you will find good. The good that you will find is varied. Some days you will find a promise in God's Word that you can claim. Other days you will find instruction or teaching about some aspect of God or His will. On others you will experience rebuke or correction that will lead you away from a sin and back into sweet fellowship with the Lord. Still others will yield a fresh glimpse of God's glory and character that will blow you away or thrill your heart. There is so much good that comes from approaching the Word as more than just something to check off on your day. You need to approach it as you would approach Him - because that is exactly what you are doing!

There is another blessing that comes from doing this as well - and it is explained for us at the close of this proverb. You will be blessed because as you understand God's will and ways and person better - you will be able to trust in Him! When He gives a command you can trust Him to provide the power to keep it. When He offers rebuke or conviction you can trust Him to grant repentance and to lead you into freedom from the sinful action. When He offers hope or encouragement you can trust Him to bring you through the situation which has caused hurt or pain. There are so many ways that God can make you truly blessed as you have a fresh opportunity to trust Him and rely upon what He has said in His Word. May you be blessed indeed as you continue having daiily times alone with Him - as He speaks to you - as you pay attention - and as you are wonderfully blessed as He encourages you onward into every new day of trusting Him and seeing Him work out His will in your life!

Keep your way far from her And do not go near the door of her house, Proverbs 5:8

For many, the reason that they fail and fail again in conquering sexual sin is because they are trying to walk as close as they can to the line rather than walking miles from seeing it.  Let me explain as we look at today's "little bit of wisdom." 

Solomon is giving his son great advice here concerning the immoral woman.  He is told to keep his way FAR from her!  He tells his son not to go near to the door of her house!  What great wisdom he offers here - and yet it is as simple as a child learning their first letters.  The problem is that too many ignore this advice - and do so to their own demise. 

FAR - there is the definitive word that we need to remember when it comes to avoiding sexual sin.  What usually happens is that a young man wants to go as close as he can to sin - without actually stepping into it.  He walks the line between sin and righteousness like someone walks a tight rope.  The result of this choice on his part is that he sins - and does so fairly regularly. 

Here is a truth and wisdom you need to remember when it comes to sexual sin - and hanging around the wrong kind of women or men.  If you want to walk as close as you can to sin - you will sin.  You are destined to fall if your goal is to stay close to the edge of sin.  David knew this when he instructed Solomon in this very same information.  David understood this all too well. 

David should have never been in Jerusalem when he committed adultery with Bathsheba.  The Scriptures tell us that when kings went to war . . . David chose to stay home.  This presents a very dangerous situation for David.  First of all, David is not where he should be - fighting for Israel and engaging the Lord's enemies.  So our first lesson is this - if sin is our enemy, why would we want to get as close to it as we can?  If David would have been where God wanted him to be - he would have never faced temptation in the first place. 

David's actions had consequences.  Now he was a man in a city filled with women whose husbands were away at war.  Where there would have been a natural protection afforded to David by the presence of Bathsheba's husband - that was not the case. 

When David was walking on the roof of his house and saw Bathsheba bathing - he could have walked away and gone back into his palace.  Instead he chose to look - and to note that she was a beautiful woman.  Each time David decided to walk on the edge of where God wanted him to be - and what God wanted him to do - David was ensuring that he was going to eventually fall off that edge headlong into sin.  Eventually, David succumbed to the desires that were raging in his heard.  Even though he had a palace filled with wives - and probably by this time concubines - he had to have this woman.  The rest is a sad and sordid history.

But enough about David - how about us?  Where are we walking in these matters?  Are we steering clear of sin - especially sexual sin.  I know of men who have stumbled again and again into pornography and other sexual sin - who grieve over their failures.  But they are unwilling to get a filter - unwilling to submit to accountability - and many think they can continue to get as close to sin as possible rather than run from it. 

If you want to know the answer to all this - it is to follow Solomon's counsel here - and keep away from the immoral woman - or wherever you are seeing her image or pictures.  If anything our heart's desire needs to be a desire to get as close to JESUS as we can!  That is what needs to drive us in our hearts.  We need to have a heart that says - not only do I want to keep away from her and steer clear of the door of her house.  I want to do just the opposite - to keep as close as I can to Christ - and to often go near Him. 

If you want to avoid sexual sin - then AVOID IT!  But in avoiding it, don't think inches or millimeters.  Think miles and miles!  By staying away from the source of temptation - we will find our hearts wonderfully protected as we instead draw near to our Lord Jesus Christ!