Proverbs 22:3-5 ESV
“The prudent sees danger and hides himself,
but the simple
go on and suffer for it.
The reward for humility and fear of the Lord
is riches and
honor and life.
Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked;
whoever guards
his soul will keep far from them.”
There are people all around everywhere who are corrupt,
immoral, and wicked, who stir up trouble for others. They are gossips,
slanderers, betrayers, liars, and thieves, who live in self-indulgence, for
sinful pleasure, and who willfully cause harm for others. Avoid them (2 Tim
3:1-9).
They are lazy gluttons who shirk responsibility and who prey
on the weak and unsuspecting. They take advantage of others for their own
greed. They are those, too, who may make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ,
and who may even put on a show of righteousness, but who are living sinful
lifestyles.
Although we are to love all people as Jesus loved us and
gave his life up for us so that we could be delivered from our slavery to sin,
we are not to bond (unite, partner) with people such as these, because bad
company corrupts even bad character and can incite it and make it even worse.
The wicked lay traps for the righteous. They will try to
trip us up like the Pharisees tried with Jesus quite often. They will try to
get us to join in with them in their dissipation. They may even try to shame us
into compromising our beliefs by trying to convince us we are not “normal.”
So, we need to guard our souls from the snares of the
wicked. When we see danger, we need to avoid it, get away from it, not keep
going and suffer for it. We need to walk away from gossips and from those who
like to tell off-color jokes and who like to swear up a storm, etc.
And, we need to avoid going places, especially on the
internet, where we might be tempted to sin or where we have fallen into traps
in the past, and where we know we will be influenced in ungodly ways. We must know
our weaknesses and not “tempt fate.”
And, instead, we must walk in the fear of the Lord, doing
what he says to do, and be shaking off any sins that might try to entrap us. And,
we must fill our minds with the things of God and not with the things of this
sinful world.
Proverbs 22:10-12 ESV
“Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out,
and quarreling
and abuse will cease.
He who loves purity of heart,
and whose
speech is gracious, will have the king as his friend.
The eyes of the Lord keep watch over knowledge,
but he
overthrows the words of the traitor.”
A scoffer is one who makes fun of people different from him.
He enjoys mocking those who aren’t like him, who don’t do the same kinds of
things that he likes to do, or who he deems too religious. And, scoffers like
to have an audience, too, so they will get others to join them in their
mocking.
So, again, we need to avoid people such as these, not to be unloving
with them, but so we are not influenced by them, or so that we do not
participate with them in their scoffing by listening to them knock other people
down for their own sinful pleasure.
And, we need to keep our minds pure and our hearts pure so
that what comes out of our mouths is not what is harmful to others but is what
gives glory to God. But what we choose to allow into our minds is going to
influence what gets stored in our hearts and what comes out through our mouths
and our actions. So, we need to filter what we allow inside us.
Proverbs 22:13-14 ESV
“The sluggard says, ‘There is a lion outside!
I shall be
killed in the streets!’
The mouth of forbidden women is a deep pit;
he with whom
the Lord is angry will fall into it.”
People who are slothful and who are irresponsible and
self-indulgent will create all kinds of excuses for why they can’t do what is right
and for why they continue doing what is wrong. And, many of their excuses are
very lame or ridiculous. And, yet they continue to tell them.
I have found that those especially given over to sexual perversion
and addiction will have all kinds of excuses for why they have not changed and
for why they continue to willfully and habitually yield to their flesh to
engage in what is sinful and harmful to themselves and to others.
And, the “forbidden women” don’t have to be women, though
they may be. But this can be anything alluring, enticing, and leading into sin.
It could be a picture, a video, a conversation, a story, a novel, a movie, or a
TV show, or even a commercial or a half-time show at a football game.
But, the point here is that it is something forbidden by
God, something God calls sin, but which allures people into sin who are weak
willed and who are vulnerable to being tempted because they are slothful, and
they don’t have their guards up, because they don’t walk in the fear of the
Lord but according to their flesh.
But sexual sin and idolatry are definitely implied here, and
when people do fall into that trap, it is a deep pit, and many people remain
there, even many who profess faith in Jesus Christ, some of whom are pastors
and elders, too.
But there is a way out. Jesus already made that way out via
his death on that cross and via his resurrection, so there is no excuse for
anyone to remain there or to be in a continual state of addiction recovery
still recycling the same sinful cycle.
Through God-given faith in Jesus Christ, where we surrender
our lives to Christ, and where we die with him to sin and live to him and to
his righteousness, in his power and strength, we can walk (live) in victory
over sin, and we can live holy lives, pleasing to God.
It doesn’t mean we are perfect people, but it does mean that
lack of perfection is not used as an excuse for continued sinful and addictive
practices. For sin is no longer our master. Sin no longer has control over our
lives. Now Jesus is our master and we are under Holy Spirit control.
By the power of God’s Spirit living within us, we can live
free from addiction to sin, and we can live morally pure lives and love others
with the love of God instead of living for self-gratification and
self-pleasure. We just have to say “No” to sin daily and “Yes” to God.
All the Way My Savior
Leads Me
Lyrics by Frances J
Crosby, pub. 1875
Music by Robert Lowry,
pub. 1875
All the way my Savior leads me,
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercy,
Who through life has been my Guide?
Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,
Here by faith in Him to dwell!
For I know, whate’er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well.
All the way my Savior leads me,
Cheers each winding path I tread,
Gives me grace for every trial,
Feeds me with the living Bread.
Though my weary steps may falter
And my soul athirst may be,
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see.
All the way my Savior leads me,
Oh, the fullness of His love!
Perfect rest to me is promised
In my Father’s house above.
When my spirit, clothed immortal,
Wings its flight to realms of day
This my song through endless ages:
Jesus led me all the way.
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