Good Delight

For Friday, October 6, 2006
Proverbs 5:18-19

18 Let your fountain be blessed,
and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
19 a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;
be intoxicated always in her love.

The answer to illicit pleasure is legitimate pleasure, that which rightfully and delightfully belongs to the one who is married. I find this embarrassing to read publicly because it is so uninhibited in expressing the passion of legitimate, marital, sexual pleasure. Passion, even sexual passion, is not only not bad; it is greatly to be desired within the appropriate boundaries.

This instruction is calling you to devote yourself to your spouse, family, whatever is good. Do some of you think, “if only you knew my wife (or husband)”? You would like to rejoice in your spouse if only he or she were desirable or would cooperate. First note the reality that the proverb recognizes here. Even the husbands and wives of desirable and cooperative spouses will yield to sexual temptations. Many a newly married person has been startled to learn that the same temptations that plagued him or her as a single remain in the marriage. It is true that the temptations grow stronger if the marriage is not pleasurable, but the answer is not in wishing that your spouse would get with the program. Rather it is in you being attentive to loving your wife or husband. Turn your attention away from alternatives to marital intimacy and focus on blessing your marriage.

If you are single, take the same principle and focus on taking delight in good, legitimate pleasures. Contrary to the foolish propaganda of the world, sex is not the only pleasure and passion of life; it does not even rank first. What does? I can think of a few things. Better than having sex is making a real difference in someone else’s life for the good. Do you want to feel good about yourself and have happy memories that build up your self worth? Then do good deeds. The world will say that such good deeds are substitutes for missing out on sexual passion. We say the world turns to sex as a poor substitute for missing out on a meaningful life. C.S. Lewis would say that turning to sex is a cheap alternative to having the passion for God which is placed in us as his creatures. The point is that we are created to desire after something. We do need to have passion for something, and the foolish world says it is sex. And that is what it means. Say what anyone will about love, the world means sexual love at best or the mere animal act. But we know that we were created to have a passion for God.

But even here I want to be careful. God has made us physical beings and created us to live in a physical world. Our goal should not be to become spiritual beings who take no interest in physical pleasures; rather we delight in God through delighting in the legitimate physical pleasures he has given. Thus, the godly spouse will delight in physical intimacy with his or her spouse. The godly married person and the single will delight in the beauties of the created world, in doing good, in the joy of meaningful relationships. The answer to sexual sin is not mere restraint but pouring one’s desires and passions into whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and commendable (cf. Philippians 4:8).

The Life of Regret

For Thursday, October 5, 2006
Proverbs 5:12-14

12 and you say, “How I hated discipline,
and my heart despised reproof!
13 I did not listen to the voice of my teachers
or incline my ear to my instructors.
14 I am at the brink of utter ruin
in the assembled congregation.”

These verses remind me of the old Roy Clark song, “Yesterday, When I Was Young.”
“So many wayward pleasures lay in store for me,
And so much pain my dazzled eyes refused to see.
I ran so fast that time and youth, at last, ran out,
I never stopped to think what life was all about;
And ev'ry conversation I can now recall
Concerned itself with me, and nothing else at all.
I used my magic age as if it were a wand,
And never saw the waste and emptiness beyond.
The game of love I played with arrogance and pride,
And ev'ry flame I lit too quickly, quickly died;
The friends I made all seemed somehow to drift away
And only I am left on stage to end the play.
There are so many songs in me that won't be sung,
I feel the bitter taste of tears upon my tongue;
The time has come for me to pay for yesterday
When I was young.”

The tragedy of the words spoken in these verses and in the song is that they speak of regret that knows no hope. It is shocking to wake up to a ruined life which is the result of foolish living; it is bitter to know only regret and no redemption. Pity the blind fool who someday must face his folly. Pray that he will come to his senses while there is time to repent. Pray that he will repent and turn to the Lord who alone can redeem his soul and turn his ruin into a foundation for a meaningful life...while there is time.

Keep Away

For Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Proverbs 5:7-11

7 And now, O sons, listen to me,
and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep your way far from her,
and do not go near the door of her house,
9 lest you give your honor to others
and your years to the merciless,
10 lest strangers take their fill of your strength,
and your labors go to the house of a foreigner,
11 and at the end of your life you groan,
when your flesh and body are consumed...

Keep away from the "forbidden woman"! If she is in your travel route, take a detour – a wide detour. Instead of matching your wisdom against her folly, just stay away. She will not listen to you. As Proverbs 18:2 explains, “A fool takes no pleasure in understanding.” And 15:14 adds that “the mouths of fools feed on folly.”The more likely scenario is that she will lead you astray and to your ruin.

What happens when you yield to the forbidden woman? You lose your honor, your good name. Perhaps you are young and earning a good name. You are accomplishing much good. Perhaps you are effectively ministering for God’s kingdom, but you yield to the entices of the forbidden woman and become publicly shamed and thus disqualified for your work.You lose your years of a fruitful life. The years of a meaningful, productive life are taken away as you waste them indulging in folly or suffering the consequences of your folly. Many good, talented men and women have had their talent wasted because of going near the door of her house.You lose your possessions. Strangers – those who have no interest in you – reap your possessions. The lovers of money take from you your money. Understand that our society is saturated with sexual temptations, not because of mere sensual impulse, but because sex is a lucrative business. Like casinos, the sex industry is all about becoming wealthy off of your giving in to temptation. And of all the temptations, illicit sex is the easiest to exploit because sexual impulses makes fools of us all.And you lose more than money. You may lose your spouse who leaves you for someone else. You may lose your family and your friends. You may lose your job. What was dear to you ends up with someone else.And you lose your health. It is impossible not to connect rampant venereal disease with rampant sexual promiscuity. But there are other tolls on your health – anxiety, depression, the dangers connected with linking up with fools, to name a few.

Keep away and embrace the Wisdom who will strengthen you with the gospel of Christ.

The Forbidden Woman

For Monday, October 2, 2006
Proverbs 5:1-6

1 My son, be attentive to my wisdom;
incline your ear to my understanding,
2 that you may keep discretion,
and your lips may guard knowledge.
3 For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey,
and her speech is smoother than oil,
4 but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps follow the path to Sheol;
6 she does not ponder the path of life;
her ways wander, and she does not know it.

Interestingly enough the first characteristic of the forbidden woman is the way she communicates. This happens in each section where she is brought up: 2:16 – she is the “adulteress with her smooth words”; 6:24 – “the smooth tongue of the adulteress”; 7:5 – “the adulteress with her smooth words.” We can see then the contrast being set up. It is between vying ways of life – that offered by wisdom and the other offered by sensuality, or rather, folly. What seems to be a choice between stoicism and sensual pleasure is really between deeper, lasting pleasure and bitter delusion. The forbidden woman’s speech seems sweet and smooth, and for awhile she may seem to deliver on her promises; but in the end her taste is bitter and even deadly. Why? Because she herself is a fool, and as Proverbs 10:10 notes, “a babbling fool will come to ruin.” Unlike the wise and the righteous, she does not ponder the path of life. She does not contemplate what is truth and what does bring real life. Indeed, she is oblivious to where her life choices are taking her. And as Proverbs 13:20 warns, “the companion of fools will suffer harm.” Join up with the forbidden woman, and you will join in with her destruction.

Who is the forbidden woman? She may well be a woman tempting you to adultery. She is also the sex industry trying to draw you in so your money will be taken. She is the secular society trying to lure you into her world. She lures both men and women. And she is effective because of her smooth words.

Do not underestimate her persuasiveness; nor overestimate your willpower to resist. Seek the wisdom of Scripture; appeal to the Holy Spirit for understanding and strength to obey God's commands. Follow your Lord Jesus Christ.