Why should we pay attention to God’s wisdom?
[Proverbs 5:1-14]
Do you know anyone who has been raped around you? When I looked at one of the Korean Internet News last week, I read the article under the heading ‘Collective sexual harassment medical students, a large number of influential law firm lawyers’ which was a hot debate article (Internet). The content of the article is that three Korean K University medical students, who are in their early and mid-20's, were convicted of sexual assault on a young girl who fell asleep while drunk. And they have appointed lawyers for their law firms on a large scale. But I guess there are about 10 lawyers appointed by those three students. I think they are famous lawyers too. The question is how the students hired so many famous lawyers to cover their attorneys' fees. It is said that sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape are often encountered by people very close. In fact, according to the statistics of sexual crimes from a group called RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), which is called an anti-sexual violence organization in the United States, about two-thirds of sexual assaults are people the victims know. And 38% of rapists say they are friends or acquaintances. And the statistics show that every two minutes someone living in the United States is sexually assaulted (internet). It must be a serious phenomenon. I think that there are so many sexual temptations in the world, and there are so many people who fall into them. What should we do?
During the Wednesday prayer meeting in the last two weeks, we were taught 5 lessons on how to pay attention to the word of God, focusing on the words of Proverbs 4:20-27. We must pay attention to what God is saying to us (v. 20). And we must not let God's word out of our sight (v. 21). And we must keep His word in our hearts (v. 21) and speak His word with our lips (v. 24). In the meantime, we have learned that we must not let our feet to turn away from the word of God (vv. 26-27). Today, focusing on Proverbs 5:1-14, I would like to learn the reason why we should pay attention to God's wisdom (v. 1). King Solomon gives the reason in verse 2: “That you may observe discretion And your lips may reserve knowledge.” The reason we need to pay attention to God's wisdom is to gain knowledge and discretion (1:4) to protect and guard us (2:11; 3:21-24). Then, from what does that knowledge and discretion protect and guard us? It is the adulteress, a prostitute. In other words, when we pay attention to the wisdom of God and gain knowledge and discretion, that knowledge and discretion protects us from the adulteress’ temptation and saves us [(2:16) “It will save you also from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words”]. Here, what is the adulteress’ temptation? Look at Proverbs 4:3 – “For the lips of an adulteress drip honey And smoother than oil is her speech.” What is the temptation of the adulteress here? It is the temptation of the lips. The lips of the adulteress drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil (v. 3). This means that the adulteress’ temptation with her lips is so subtle and skillful that not only does it sound sweet to our ears, but it is threatening because it makes people to fall into the temptation and slip away from their faith (Park). So the Bible says that even though the lips of the adulteress are sweet and charming at first and seem to offer us pleasure, at the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword (v. 4), eventually killing us spiritually, leading us to death and straight to the grave (v. 5) (Park). This is the purpose of the adulteress to lure us with her lips. She leads us into hedonism and makes us unable to think about the way of life (v. 6), which in the end causes us to leave God forever and to perish forever. What should we do? What must we do to overcome the temptation of the adulteress?
First, in order for us to overcome the adulteress’ temptation, we must listen to God.
Look at Proverbs 5:7 – “Now then, my sons, listen to me; do not turn aside from what I say.” In order for us to overcome the temptation of the harlot's lips, we must hear the word from God's mouth. In other words, we must overcome the temptation of the harlot's lips with the word of God, the sword of the Holy Spirit coming out of God's mouth. In order to do this, the word of God must be sweet to us like honey. We must hear the voice of the psalmist confessing in Psalms 19:10, and we must have such confession as well: “They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.” If we are enjoying the sweetness of God's word, we would never listen to the voice of temptation flowing out of the adulteress's mouth. And we will not fall for her temptation, no matter how sweet the temptation voice of the adulteress may sound. However, if we do not taste the sweetness of God's word, we will gradually move away from the word of God's mouth and eventually depart from it. The reason is because we are listening to the honey-like voices of delusion dropping from the mouth of the adulteress which is already slippery than oil than the words of God's mouth. It's like not having the cluster of honey of God's word planted in our heart but the cluster of honey of the adulteress. Not long ago, couple of men who get rid of bees came to my house. They came and went up to the roof of the house with a ladder and sprayed some chemical to kill those bees. After a while, many of the bees died and fell to the ground. Then another man climbed the roof. After removing all the honeycomb from the roof, he covered the roof well, and between the roof and the wall to prevent bees from penetrating into the roof again. He closed all the gaps and went. Hearing about the bee-killing experts, it is said that if we don’t remove the honeysuckle, the honey will melt and cause insects and rats to appear. And since bees are said to be gathering again, we had no choice but to get rid of the cluster of honey even with a large amount of money. When I think of this, I think that Satan is trying to make a sinful bunch of honey in our hearts that follow the pleasures of the flesh through the adulteress. However, the saints who consider the word of God sweeter than the honey of the cluster are blocked from hearing the voice of the Satan’s and the adulteress’ temptation because the word of God lives and works in their hearts. On the other hand, the saints who don’t enjoy the taste of God's word are exposed to the Satan’s and the adulteress’ temptation because there are many gaps here and there. Like the psalmist, we should treat God's word as sweeter than a bunch of honey. To that extent, we must yearn for and love God's word. Therefore, we meditate on the word of God day and night, listen to and obey His voice heard through meditation on the word, so we must prevent any temptation from the mouth of the adulteress from penetrating our hearts.
Second, in order for us to overcome the adulteress’ temptation, we must keep our path far from the adulteress.
Look at Proverbs 5:8 – “Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house.” This is what Dr. Park said: ‘Since sexual temptation is something that has charm, anyone can overcome it only by avoiding it’ (Park). One of those good examples is Joseph in the book of Genesis. A Potiphar's wife looked at Joseph with desire, who was handsome in form and appearance, asked him to lie with her day after day (Gen. 39:6, 7, 10). But not only did Joseph refuse to sleep with her because he feared God, but also he wasn't even with her (v. 10). But one day, when Joseph went into the Potiphar's house to do his work, there were nobody except the Potiphar's wife (v. 11). She caught him by his garment and said, “Lie with me!” (v. 12) So Joseph left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside (v. 12). Although Joseph was accused of wrongdoing and imprisoned, he was able to resist the temptation of the Potiphar's wife. But these days, many young Christians aren’t able to resist sexual temptation like Joseph, and they sin against God and are living in prison of heart. They are bound by the chains of sexual sin and living a sexual slavery. Unlike Joseph, if someone tells us to choose someone who has been tempted by a woman, we will probably say Samson besides David. Not only did he see one of the Philistine daughters at Timnah and made her his wife (Jdg. 14), at Gaza he saw a harlot there and went into her (16:1). After this, he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah (v. 4). He fell into her temptation, was taken over by the Philistines, and eventually died with them. What should we do? We must stay away from things that tempt us sexually. It is foolish that we try to overcome sexual temptation by getting close to them. I remember hearing the story a long time ago that a pastor who did a prostitute ministry eventually committed sexual sin. And after that, I remember hearing firsthand that a female missionary I know is interested in doing the prostitute ministry in the mission field. I think it will not be easy. I think it will be a huge challenge. The apostle Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:22, “Now flee from youthful lusts”. And he said in 1 Corinthians 6:18, “Flee immorality… “. We must avoid immorality and lusts. We must not even go to the door of the prostitute's house at all. We must stay away from the prostitutes. We must stay close to the word of God, but stay away from the words of prostitutes. And because we are close to God, we must stay away from prostitutes.
But the Bible says that if we refuse to hear the voice of God spoken to us through King Solomon, we will experience some unfortunate ending as we approach the door of her house without taking our way away from the adulteress. What are those unfortunate endings? Dr. Park describes the five unfortunate endings (Park):
(1) We will give our vigor.
Look at Proverbs 5:9a – “Or you will give your vigor to others …”. The first unfortunate ending when we refuse to listen to the word of God and get our way closer to the door of the adulteress's house, the Bible says, we will lose vigor. Here, “vigor” can mean “strength or vigor” or “honor”. I think both interpretations make sense. It is true that we lose our strength when we eventually fall for the adulteress’ temptation. But we also lost honor when don’t keep ourselves away from the harlot and are close to the door of her house. I think that a good example is the person named David in the Bible. When he was under King Saul, he was praised and honored by the Israelites for taking care of all things wisely. But when he became king and committed adultery to Bathsheba and killed her husband Uriah, he lost his honor and splendor when God revealed his sins through the prophet Nathan. So, in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:6, the Bible says, “David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife.” The word "Uriah's wife" means that David gave birth to Solomon through another man’s wife and it was recorded in the genealogy of Jesus. Then, wasn't David's sin of fornication known to all the Jews? How embarrassing is this? The same is true of Jacob's son Judas. Because of his sexual immorality, he is recorded in the genealogy of Jesus, “Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar (Mt.1:3) (Park). Who is Tamar? She was Judah's daughter-in-law. How embarrassing is this?
(2) We will give our years to the cruel one.
Look at Proverbs 5:9b – “… And your years to the cruel one.” What does it mean? This means that when we disobey God's word and come close to the adulteress, we will waste our youth, which is our golden age, to the cruel adulteress. In Ecclesiastes 12:1, King Solomon tells us: “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, "I have no delight in them.” The golden age of a young man is a good time to remember God the Creator and serve Him. But what would happen to the young man's life if he wasted by the adulteress, not God, at that golden age? The reason the adulteress is a cruel because it makes young men to waste their youth.
(3) We will lose our property and income.
Look at Proverbs 5:10 – “And strangers will be filled with your strength And your hard-earned goods will go to the house of an alien.” When we fall into the adulteress’ temptation, we don’t lose only honor or time. We also lose material. Obviously, the Bible says that we have to serve God and give glory to Him through our material as well. But those who fall into the adulteress’ temptation don't give money to God but they satisfy their passions with it. How absurd is this in the sight of God? If God gives us the blessing of material things, and the blessing we receive is giving it to the adulteress, how absurd is this from God's point of view? Rather, it would be better to lose all of the material. This is because there is no way going to the adulteress.
(4) We will regret it because we also lose our health.
Look at Proverbs 5:11 – “And you groan at your final end, When your flesh and your body are consumed.” How many people now lie with prostitutes, so they contract venereal diseases, weaken their bodies, and even die? There is no way to cure the disease of AIDS still. What is terrifying is that even though some people know that they have AIDS, they have sex with others, spreading sexually transmitted diseases. Seeing such news, how cruel and wicked people are. The end of those who sleep with prostitutes lose their health, and at the end they regret their action.
(5) We will suffer in our conscience.
Look at Proverbs 5:12-14: “And you say, ‘How I have hated instruction! And my heart spurned reproof! I have not listened to the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined my ear to my instructors! I was almost in utter ruin In the midst of the assembly and congregation.’” At the end, after losing fame, wasting time, losing wealth, losing health, and regretting, what's the use? Even though the Israelites were admonished and rebuked by their teachers, they hated the admonition and rebuke, and didn’t listen to it. So, even though they belonged to the Holy Assembly of Israel, they committed many sins unscrupulously (Park). In the eyes of God, how does God think about those who still go to church and receive a lot of instruction from church pastors or teachers and receive rebukes, but still straighten their neck and commit sexual crimes according to their stubbornness and sinful instincts? This is Dr. Park said: ‘Even after learning a lot of truth, the sins of those who go against it are punished even more’ (Lk. 12:47-48).
We must pay attention to God's wisdom. What is the reason? The reason is because we gain knowledge and discretion to protect and guard us from the adulteress’ temptations. We must fight and overcome the temptation of the prostitutes. In order to do that, we must listen to the word of God's mouth without throwing it away. And we must keep our way away from the adulteress. We should never fall under the prostitutes’ temptations, lose all of our honor, time, wealth, and health, and live a life of regret in pain in our conscience. May God give us His wisdom.