Devotional on Proverbs

2004 – Big Island, Hawaii

Don’t play with fire
Proverbs 6: Can you build a fire in your lap and not burn your pants?
King Solomon is credited with writing Proverbs. I guess a man married to as many women as he was either knows a lot about women or nothing at all about them! I’ll give him credit for knowing a lot about life in what he says about extramarital affairs. In some ways his comments on this topic that cover the greater part of three chapters of Proverbs are out of date. His picturing the man as some foolish, gullible fellow being seduced by some worldly woman seems out of date to me. I’m not saying that never happens, but it’s just as common for the shoe to be on the other foot and it’s the female who is fed a line. In fact, I have the idea that often it’s both who are victims of an entertainment media and popular culture that treats sexual intimacy as something far less than was intended by God when he gave it to us as a wonderful gift. However, if I think Solomon is rather narrow when he focuses only the young man as the gullible one, he’s right on when it comes to the consequences. The loose lifestyle causes terrible emotional pain. Couples think they’re entering into “no fault” relationships, and when one is ready to call it quits they’ll both just move on. It never works that way. Both are cheapened by the experience. They’ll never know the depth of what might have been. Our society has been sold a bill of goods that’s supposed to be freeing and fulfilling. Instead, to use Solomon’s description, many are being burned and will spend a lifetime dealing with the scars of their so called freedom.
Take Away: Despite what culture says, God’s way is still the best way.

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