September 13, 2017
WHOSE WISDOM ARE YOU HEEDING? FROM THE ENTICING ADULTERESS OR OUR HEAVENLY FATHER?
Proverbs 2:16-22
Rob Heath
Central Truth
Don't buy the lie that life is found in the world! Life is found in our Father who sacrificed all for a relationship with you!
Key Verse | Proverbs 2:16
So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman,
from the adulteress with her smooth words.
(Proverbs 2:16)
Proverbs 2:16-22
16
So you will be delivered from the forbidden
1
2:16
Hebrew strange
woman,
from the adulteress
2
2:16
Hebrew foreign woman
with her smooth words,
17
who forsakes the companion of her youth
and forgets the covenant of her God;
18
for her house sinks down to death,
and her paths to the departed;
3
2:18
Hebrew to the Rephaim
19
none who go to her come back,
nor do they regain the paths of life.
20
So you will walk in the way of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21
For the upright will inhabit the land,
and those with integrity will remain in it,
22
but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.
Dive Deeper | Proverbs 2:16-22
Proverbs is a book about wisdom: our Heavenly Father's wisdom. This section is showing us the foolishness of living for this world, using the example of the smooth-talking adulteress and the contrast of falling to her temptations versus following Christ. His wisdom and knowledge—in every situation—are all we need in this life. Failing to heed His direction will have its consequences, just as we see in this illustration.
In our world today, anything goes. If we don’t like a direction our lives have taken, we look for ways and excuses to do what we want, and our politically correct society will allow us to do just that. I submit to you that there are many “sins” that our society allows that are destroying lives all around us because our society disregards God’s truth. We do not want to tell people how to live their lives in truth because—when unpopular—it subjects us to angry responses. What do I mean here? Reading Romans 1, I think, reveals today's society.
My most recent struggle has been with people-pleasing and specifically idolatry of women—my longing to be adored. I present myself as someone I’m not so that the women of my desires—and there have been several—will love me. In contrast, wisdom tells me to pursue being fully known and fully loved.
Life is hard. When a marriage gets difficult, the world may tell you that the restrictive covenants previously made seem impossible to fulfill in order to be happy. And doesn't God want you to be happy? It's easy to believe the lies that happiness exists in changing your spouse's behavior or finding a new partner altogether. But the truth is that there is opportunity to pursue holiness through marital hardships; and often, growth in Christ is delayed or missed when we take the easy way out. Marriage is just one example of when we have the option to press harder into God's wisdom rather than our own. Obedience to Christ produces character, healing, and a light in the world around us.
Discussion Questions
1. What does your seductive adulteress look like? Do you know? Does your community know?
2. What are your easy exits from difficult situations? How might you when facing that situation use the Truth to bring about change, possibly changing someone's eternity?
3. What is your current struggle and how might your struggling through this "in public" encourage someone else to hold fast to the Truth?