Proverbs 6:3 Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.
4 Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.
5 Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.
Now we see that it is very important to free ourselves from any arrangement that could cause us to loose our God given resources. This is just saying, don’t even wait until tomorrow, go today and beg your friend to let you off of this note so you will be free and not responsible for someone else’s note just as a deer or a bird is free from the hunter. We are seeing in these parables just good rules for living successful business lives. These parables are to help us prosper in all that we do.
Proverbs 6:1 My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,
2 Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.
Chapter 6 begins teaching us another lesson one about money.
It begins by talking basically about signing on a note with someone else. It is foolishness to do this because it makes you responsible for what some else owes. The word tells us it is better to give or lend without interest than to do sign with someone. Anyone who becomes responsible for another person’s debt is trapped and controlled because he has yielded control of what God has given him. Young people, many times, do not realize that they could have to pay the whole debt for something they did not receive by just signing an innocent looking piece of paper. All to often we buy things today on credit that we really do not need and sometimes do not have the means to pay for it. It is said the number one cause of divorce today is the debt a family has. God’s word give us a plan of how to spend what we have and live a good life if we take take the time to study His word on this subject.
Proverbs 5:20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.
22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
As we have just looked at how God wants a relationship to be we have a question asked. Why would anyone commit a known sin? This refers to an adulterous relationship but really it could be referring to any sin. We should know better because God is always seeing what we are doing even to the point of allowing his mercy to give us a chance to repent if we mess up. If we let the sin continue it only gets worse and usually will wind up with someone being lost to God. A person caught up in this type of life will tie their own selves up in this sin. Adultery seems to be especially bad to the Lord. This sin of adultery, which also includes homosexual and lesbian acts, carries its own special punishment with it. If a person like this does not repent he is condemned to eternal life in hell. Again no one has to face that end they can call on Jesus for salvation and spend eternity in Heaven.
Proverbs 5:18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
This scripture lets us know that God intended for the marriage relationship to be between only one man and one woman. That we should not have more than one wife. Also that we should love the wife of of our youth just as much, if not more, when we get old.There has been a terrible cancer of sin in our society the last few years. That is people who are living together without the benefit of marriage. This is not His plan for man and woman. God made one man for one woman, and they two become one flesh; not for a few days but for a lifetime together on this earth. God can give you a special love for your wife or husband, even if you have been married over 50 years. We should always be able to be satisfied with our spouse and our love should grow deeper for one another as we grow older. One of the best ways for a marriage to stay strong is for the husband and wife to be church together, so find you a church to attend today and learn what God has new for you We welcome everyone at Luverne First Assembly of God at 788 Glenwood Rd please come and join us if you do not have a church to attend. Sunday School at 9:30, Worship Service at10:30
Proverbs 5:15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee.
As the scripture goes on here we see it turns from the harlot to the life lived in unity between a husband and wife. Cistern and well refer to the wife from whom the husband is to draw all his satisfying refreshment, sexually and affectionately. The teaching here continues in the continuity of the family, instead of illegitimate children in the streets, it should be children of husband and wife in a home. In short, stay at home and enjoy the things that God has provided for you and your family. Don’t go looking for greener grass.
Proverbs 5:7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
As this continues the writer says to listen to the right teaching and not to depart from it. To stay away from the temptation that comes before you so it does not take away your salvation and continue bringing you down. If you stay in that direction it will wind up costing you not only your salvation but also makes it harder to ever come back. Even though you know better and have listened to instruction in the right ways to go you still refuse to listen till you are totally consumed. This is even to the point where you where you totally turn from your teaching and say you hate and despise it. Because you have allowed sin to start in your life it continues to grow unless you put a stop to it before it takes hold. If not you will not listen or obey the teachings of righteousness. This will cause one to to lose all their ability to stop sinning and eventually get to the the point where they have no conscience This scripture helps us to see that we need to stay in God’s every day so we do not lose what we have learned form the wisdom God has given us.
Proverbs 5:3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
Seduction begins with deceptive flattery. Lips of honey should be part of true love in marriage. Possibly a word we might understand a little better than “strange” woman would be a loose, sinful woman. This woman is forbidden fruit making her more mysterious and inviting to the young man. Prostitutes are out to allure the young men and sometimes the older, as well. They are trained to allure the weak men of the world. A woman like this has no future. Bitterness, sickness, early death, and then hell is what she has to look forward to. The two edged sword is the Bible she should have heeded. The future of tasting her lips is like “wormwood”, a symbol of suffering, and a “sword,” the symbol of death and hell. This woman is unstable in all her ways., her steps willfully and predictably stagger here and there as she has no concern for the future ahead.
Proiverbs 5:1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
Again we see wisdom at the start of this chapter asking us to stay focused on what God has entrusted us with. Also to apply the understanding of God to all the opportunities that come our way. To many times we find ourselves where we want to take control and do what we think is best. We need to use discretion and remember what we have learned so that when we speak it is with the knowledge gained from the wisdom God gave us. I believe we are reminded of this at the start of this chapter because we are going to see some things that help us to understand why we need wisdom and how we need to do all we can to maintain it.
Proverbs 4:25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.
A persons eyes says a lot about them. If someone has shifty eyes they usually have something to cover up, wandering eyes can be misleading and cause one doubt what some one is doing. Eyes that that look straight are usually telling the truth. We should always try to focused on looking straight so that we walk in path that our feet will not lead us astray. We need to establish our paths where we turn not to the right or the left so that we stay away from evil. Through chapter 4 we have seen that if we hide the wisdom we have obtained in our hearts we can walk in righteousness with the knowledge and understanding that if our eyes are focused straight on God then He will direct our paths.
Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee
We see now that the heart is the center of all that we do. The wisdom that we learn is stored in the heart not the mind. The heart is the very center of our being. The mind is the center of thinking, emotions, reason, and our will. The heart is the depository of all wisdom and the source of whatever affects speech, sight, and conduct. We will have either a pure heart or a wicked heart and we know that God judges the heart. A froward mouth and perverse words come from an evil heart. Out of the abundance of our heart our mouth speaketh. It speaks life or death.
"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." I John 5:7
