Day 958: Proverbs 5- Wisdom For Marriage

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.
 
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,
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.”
 
15 Drink water from your own cistern,
    flowing water from your own well.
16 Should your springs be scattered abroad,
    streams of water in the streets?
17 Let them be for yourself alone,
    and not for strangers with you.
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.
20 Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman
    and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?
21 For a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord,
    and he ponders all his paths.
22 The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him,
    and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.
23 He dies for lack of discipline,
    and because of his great folly he is led astray.
 
 
Meditation
God’s steadfast love wants to strengthen the foundation for marriage through true wisdom, the applied knowledge of how to walk God’s path to live profitably in God’s design for the most intimate relationship of life.
 
The greatest enemy to a good foundation for marriage is infidelity, a heart devastated by unbridled lust. Jesus teaches disciples to avoid lust at all costs, to the extent of poking out eyes or chopping off hands (Matthew 5:27-30). Paul teaches to flee any sort of sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 6:18). Lust, adultery, pornography … all lead to heartache and are tremendously hazardous for life and devastating for marriage.
 
Wisdom sees the corruption under the surface of seduction (1-6), the casualties from the pride of infidelity (7-13), and holds out the crowning joy of lasting delight in a faithful marriage (in opposition to a catastrophic alternative 14-23).  Holding wisdom in your heart while killing the temptations to lust (7-8) will launch you on a path of rejoicing in the blessed fountain of life the Lord provides through marriage (18-19).
 
2 Timothy 2:22 encourages believers to, “flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” The individual battle is strengthened by community. More powerfully, the Lord gives believers His Spirit to put to death the deeds of the flesh (Romans 8:13). God’s grace cleanses us and God’s steadfast love empowers us to move from corruption and casualties of lust to the crowning joy of a delightful marriage.
 
Richly Dwelling
-What stands out to you from the passage’s wisdom for marriage?
 
-Where do you identify with the casualties from the pride of infidelity because you did not pay attention to the warnings of the corruption of lust?
 
-Jesus promises power to kill lust and power for a delightful marriage.  Ask Jesus for forgiveness and for Him to fortify you for faithfulness and fidelity of mind and heart.
 
Key Verse
18 Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth,