10/31/12. Proverbs 5:1-23. PEOPLE DIE FOR LACK OF DISCIPLINE –my devotional

Proverbs 5:1-23                                                                                                                                                      Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF

Key Verse: 5:21,23                                                                                                                                                10/31/12

“For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths… ²³ For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly.”

Dear Lord Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your love for us expressed through Jesus on the cross. Thank you for giving us meaning and hope and satisfaction in life. I thank you for your word.  I get great joy meditating on and preparing your word. My heart is comforted when I meditate on the word of God. Learning of you, through your word, is the glue that binds all things together. It brings peace to me. I pray that the young people of America may find peace and joy in the Jesus and in the word of God. I pray that you comfort the people of the east coast. Provide for their needs. Give them strength and give them hope. Help them to come back stronger than before the crisis. Please grant me one word of God to hold onto through this passage. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part 1: Don’t Hate Discipline (1-14)

Verses 1-14, “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. ³ For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; ⁴ but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword. ⁵ Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave. ⁶ She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it. ⁷ Now then, my sons, listen to me; do not turn aside from what I say. ⁸ Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house, ⁹ lest you lose your honor to others and your dignity to one who is cruel, ¹⁰ lest strangers feast on your wealth  and your toil enrich the house of another. ¹¹ At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent. ¹² You will say, “How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction! ¹³ I would not obey my teachers or turn my ear to my instructors. ¹⁴ And I was soon in serious trouble in the assembly of God’s people.”

Many people think they are being honest when they live according to their feelings. But our all-wise Father God warns us that illicit love affairs and/or promiscuous lifestyles are not only foolish, but they lead to death (5). “⁵ Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave.”    How foolish it is to forsake the wife of your youth. First, the problem is, when you go this way, you are forsaking the original purpose God has for the family. Malachi 2:15 reads, “Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.” God wants oneness. He wants the family to be reflection of the unity experienced by the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. He wants his love to shine through our families. This is not possible if we let our hearts be dragged by adulterous desires. The media makes us believe that if we follow our hearts and live by our passions, we will be happy and blessed. This may work with art and hobbies and maybe careers, but that is not so when it comes to marriages.

God wants us to find his choice for us and build on that marriage. There are so many factors. There may be abusive relationships; relationships that sap the life and potential out of us; relationships that leave us joyless and depressed. What do we do about these types of relationships? I don’t have all the answers. I do sympathize with the many struggle people have. I do know that there is God’s love and grace abounding for all of us. But I do know that there is God’s overriding purpose and goal. I also know that following the passions of our hearts is not the answer. Even if we married a handsome or beautiful member of a royal family with a PhD and a billion dollars, who is extremely witty, there will be times when our hearts will wonder and we will want out of even that “fairytale” marriage. We also have to think about time. We are not in this world forever. Our time here is limited. We can not just keep starting over and over again following the passions of our hearts. We don’t live long enough to keep doing that. Build on what you have been given.

We need to find God’s leading and the will of God and be satisfied with the will of God in our life. Does that mean it will be easy? No. It will not be. But if we work at it and depend on the power of God, through the Gospel, we will experience new honeymoon experiences over and over again throughout the years. We will bear the fruit of our oneness in the Lord. We will have peace and satisfaction in our hearts. We may even live a few more years. We will also lay down a legacy for future generations. Our grandkids will remember our struggle to achieve oneness in the Lord. Our struggle in life may even save their marriages, even when we have left this world to go to the next.

This passage also gives us a dire warning about rejecting the wisdom of God. Those who hate discipline and whose hearts spurn correction someday will be full of regret (11, 12). “¹¹ At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent. ¹² You will say, “How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction!”   How bad it will be for those who chose to follow the sinful passions of their hearts rather than follow the wisdom of the Lord. They will be full of regrets. Their hearts will echo the mantra, “It might have been!” When we follow the Lord, he takes us on the most fruitful path. Jesus helps us to focus on what really matters. He helps us to be a sharpened arrow that hits the target. I know that if it were not for Jesus, I would be lost each day. I would be wandering in my heart, not really knowing what to focus on. And when this happens, then I am vulnerable to many temptations. But by the grace of God I can learn to love the Lord’s discipline and the Lord’s correction and continue to grow spiritually and be a blessing and grow in oneness with the wife of my youth.

Part 2: Drink Water From Your Own Cistern (15-23)

Verses 15-23, “¹⁵ Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. ¹⁶ Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? ¹⁷ Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. ¹⁸ May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. ¹⁹ A loving doe, a graceful deer— may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love. ²⁰ Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife?  Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman? ²¹ For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines 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.

There is great peace and satisfaction of soul when we learn joyfully to accept the life God has given us. That is true in regards to our family and also in other things, like our job or our area of study. When we do things that we know are wrong, thinking that no one is watching, we may be sure that our ways are in full view of the Lord (21). One who thinks that he is expressing his freedom when he sins, finds that the cords of his own sin hold him fast, and that he dies for lack of discipline (22,23).

I learn here that the life giving discipline that God is talking about here is the discipline of listening to, and applying the truth of the word of God. It means disciplining our hearts to humbly submitting to the truth of God and growing in the wisdom and the knowledge of the Lord. Discipline requires regular training. That is why I really want to be able to write daily bread every day. I really want to read my Bible and pray. These are acts of righteousness that discipline my heart.

If I submit to this kind of spiritual discipline, then I will not be caught up in my sins. Verses 22-23 read, “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.”  How many people are ensnared and held fast by their sinful nature, simply because they have lost control of their hearts. They suffer so much. They are dying spiritually. They suffer inwardly and cause others to suffer. There is another way. It is to submit our hearts to the Lord. It is to grow through God’s divine discipline. It means accepting God’s purpose and growing in oneness with Jesus and with those God has brought into our lives. Jesus died and rose again to make this freedom and growth possible. The power of the gospel keeps us from being ensnared. Thank God for the gospel.

Prayer: Lord, teach me to discipline my heart and my words and my actions, and live according to your word, rather than by my own fickle feelings.

One Word: Exercise discipline–live in God’s sight