The One Year Wisdom for Women Devotional: 365 Devotions through the Proverbs (8 page)

January 25

Pandora’s Box

     
My son, pay attention to my wisdom,

          
listen well to my words of insight. . . .

     
For the lips of an adulteress drip honey,

          
and her speech is smoother than oil;

     
but in the end she is bitter as gall,

          
sharp as a double-edged sword.

     
Her feet go down to death;

          
her steps lead straight to the grave.

     
She gives no thought to the way of life;

          
her paths are crooked, but she knows it not.

Today’s proverb is a blunt, sober warning to men about the dangers of adultery, but if you were to watch almost any popular TV show today, the message is quite the opposite. They make casual sex look like a harmless game where the more you play, the more fun it is. Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s a dangerous game, and no one wins. If you use emotions or people as toys, they break, leaving everyone broken.

Ladies, I don’t care if you are fourteen or forty-four or seventy-four. Women have an ability to bring men down. The situation portrayed in this proverb is of a woman who flirts and flatters and causes a man to fall.

So if this has hit a chord, if you know that you have been flirting with danger, if you know you’ve opened a Pandora’s box, first of all, may I beg you, repent. Call a godly friend and ask for prayer, ask for accountability, and draw near to the Lord himself, who is able to reel you back from this dangerous path of death.

Make It Personal . . . Live It Out!

Let me talk to mothers for a moment. You are either planting good seeds or bad seeds in your sons’ or daughters’ minds regarding their attitude toward “casual sex.” Do you enjoy the latest sitcom that winks at sex on the first date or at couples living together? Do you buy the magazines that update you on the sex life of the stars? If you do, you are endorsing that behavior, no matter what you say. All I can say is, it’s time to clean your own house.

One Year Bible Reading

Genesis 50:1—Exodus 2:10; Matthew 16:13–17:9; Psalm 21:1-13; Proverbs 5:1-6

January 26

Utter Ruin

     
Now then, my sons, listen to me;

          
do not turn aside from what I say.

     
Keep to a path far from [an adulteress],

          
do not go near the door of her house. . . .

     
[Otherwise,] at the end of your life you will groan,

          
when your flesh and body are spent.

     
You will say, “How I hated discipline!

          
How my heart spurned correction!

     
I would not obey my teachers

          
or listen to my instructors.

     
I have come to the brink of utter ruin.”

Today’s proverb is a warning to stay away from immoral sex. Although written for sons, it applies to our daughters as well. Even though this was written many years ago, it mentions the very same type of damage that occurs with immorality today.

It’s been wisely said that “tomorrow is the best reason for doing the right thing today.” Yes, there is pleasure in sin for a season, but beware: it takes a serious toll.

And so I feel it’s important for us as women to be aware of the devastating consequences of sexual sin. STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) have become epidemic. We are learning more and more of the long-range damage this does to your body.

But more than that, immoral sex does not just mess with your body. It messes with your emotions, your thought life, and with your soul. Each time you have sex with someone, you bond in a deep place. When that relationship is torn, it tears a piece out of you. Sin is such a liar. Sin promises simple pleasure, but it delivers a powerful and complicated punch of pain and problems.

Make It Personal . . . Live It Out!

Maybe you are thinking,
If only I had known then what I know now.
Because everyone was doing it, you caved in to pressure to sleep around. Now you can look back and see a long trail of disappointment and pain. So, what now? I am so happy to say that God is the God of the fresh start. Purity is first spiritual, then it becomes emotional and physical. Jesus came to redeem and restore. Will you ask him and will you let him restore you, “white as snow”?

One Year Bible Reading

Exodus 2:11–3:22; Matthew 17:10-27; Psalm 22:1-18; Proverbs 5:7-14

January 27

Faithful Husbands

     
Drink water from your own cistern,

          
running water from your own well. . . .

     
Let them be yours alone,

          
never to be shared with strangers.

     
May your fountain be blessed,

          
and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.

     
A loving doe, a graceful deer—

          
may her breasts satisfy you always,

          
may you ever be captivated by her love.

     
Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress?

          
Why embrace the bosom of another man’s wife?

     
For a man’s ways are in full view of the L
ORD
,

          
and he examines all his paths.

Ladies, our proverb today is written to our husbands, telling them to be faithful to us. This is a wonderful thing.

I was with some of my friends recently who were telling me about their daughters who have taken oaths of purity. Not only are they committed to wait until marriage to have sex but they are committed to not even kiss. One of the young girls told her friends, “I don’t want to kiss a man who might later be someone else’s husband.” Good job, girls!

But is this possible in this generation? Is it worth it to even try? It helps to break some of the fallacies about sex outside of marriage. Studies show that couples who live together are not more satisfied, because there is no commitment. Cohabiting men are four times more likely to cheat than married men, and cohabiting women eight times more likely than married women—showing again that the grass truly is greener on your side of the marriage fence.

Make It Personal . . . Live It Out!

Although this proverb is addressed to husbands, let’s now talk about our part. Make no mistake, there are many wives who make it hard for their husbands to be satisfied at home. When your husband comes home, are you still in your oldest, ugliest sweats? Is there no sign of dinner, and do the bills show you have been shopping too much? Your husband deserves more, and trust me, someone out there would like to give him more. Tonight, cook his favorite dinner and give him a reason to be captivated by your love.

One Year Bible Reading

Exodus 4:1–5:21; Matthew 18:1-20; Psalm 22:19-31; Proverbs 5:15-21

January 28

Slave of Sin

     
An evil man is held captive by his own sins;

          
they are ropes that catch and hold him.

     
He will die for lack of self-control;

          
he will be lost because of his incredible folly.

The clear moral of this proverb is never to underestimate the power of sin to make you a slave. It can hold you hostage. Listen to this powerful description: “Sin will take you farther than you ever wanted to go. It will leave you longer than you ever wanted to stay, and it will cost you more than you ever wanted to pay.”

But lest we get a mental picture of someone else we know whose sin is obvious and we shake our heads and say, “Yep, that poor person is ruining her life,” we need to be conscious of our own sin. Sin is subtle. You may not be wasting your life at the bar, but maybe you are harboring pride and resentment. Don’t kid yourself. That kind of sin can tie us in knots too.

When evangelist Billy Sunday was preparing for a crusade in a large city, he wrote a letter asking the mayor of that city for the names of individuals who had spiritual problems and needed help and prayer. How surprised Billy was when the mayor sent him the entire city telephone directory.

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23,
NKJV
), but “if we confess our sin, he is faithful to forgive and to cleanse” (1 John 1:9, paraphrase). Now, that’s freedom.

Make It Personal . . . Live It Out!

Can you visualize the grip sins can have? They are “ropes that catch and hold.” Let’s take a moment and be honest and specific. The sin of bitterness and resentment, for instance, can captivate your thought life. You find yourself reliving a hurt over and over and over. Do you see how driven and enslaved it has made you? Cut those ropes! By the power of God’s grace, cut those ropes! Today, every time those thoughts come to your mind, will you ask God to help you forgive and forget—and set you free? Ask, and
you shall receive
.

One Year Bible Reading

Exodus 5:22–7:25; Matthew 18:21–19:12; Psalm 23:1-6; Proverbs 5:22-23