Wisdom for the Day: Proverbs 5:1
Proverbs 5
1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom,
turn your ear to my words of insight,
2 that you may maintain discretion
and your lips may preserve knowledge.
Proverbs 5
21 For your ways are in full view of the LORD,
and he examinesb all your paths.
22 The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them;
the cords of their sins hold them fast.
23 For lack of discipline they will die,
led astray by their own great folly.
The next three chapters of Proverbs deal with sexual sin and its folly. The first two verses and the last three in chapter 5 act as bookends. The first two instruct us on the way to avoid the folly of this kind of sin and they are words that will stop our foot sliding into any kind of sin.
Have you ever had good sound advice from a trusted source and failed to take it because you wanted to do it your way. You look back from the mess you are in and you say to yourself, why didn’t I listen.
The Lord is the wise one and he says, pay attention to my wisdom and to my words. Isn’t it true that we don’t hear something until we turn our ear to it. The news is always on in the background in our house in the morning, my thoughts might be elsewhere, thinking about the day or other things. I might hear something that pricks my interest and I turn my thoughts to the news report. How often is Gods word just on in the background, our thoughts are elsewhere.
The urge of this proverb is to turn our ear to wisdom because it will save us from slipping into folly.
The last three verses act as a warning. Your ways are in full view of the Lord. If we know we are doing something we know we shouldn’t be doing, we tend to ignore the fact we are in full view of God.
Isn’t it the case that we behave differently when someone else is watching. We want to create an impression of good conduct. For some it maybe the opposite. It is when people are watching that their actions take a turn for the worse. Picture the small child who starts throwing tantrums when others are around. The principle is that our behaviour changes when we become aware of who is watching. It is not a bad thing to know that all your ways are known to God because that knowledge can stop our foot from slipping in to great folly. It is lack of discipline that causes us to fall in to temptation and sin.
The truth is that it is our own folly that leads us asrtray. We can blame others and come up with all sorts of excuses but ultimately it is our own lack of discipline that is our stumbling block. So turn your ear to wisdom and stay safe.
