29 September 2009 Devotion for Today "The Mouth of the Immoral Woman" Proverbs 5:1-6

29 September 2009 Devotion for Today "The Mouth of the Immoral Woman" Proverbs 5:1-6

My son, pay attention to my wisdom;
Lend your ear to my understanding,
2 That you may preserve discretion,
And your lips may keep knowledge.
3 For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey,
And her mouth is smoother than oil;
4 But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
Sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death,
Her steps lay hold of hell.[a]
6 Lest you ponder her path of life—
Her ways are unstable;
You do not know them. (Proverbs 5:1-6)

Recently I had contact from a person who was expressing deep trouble and woe over the
relationship between herself and her husband. She called me in tears, and with much
emotion went to great lengths to demonstrate to me that her husband was violent and
abusive and that she had to get out of the marriage. As I listened to her spin her tales of woe, her dramatic whine, her so-called desperation and desire to be set free she also began to make statements about God and how God would not want anyone to be in a marriage where they were not happy. As I asked some questions, I could not get her to substantiate where abuse was in the home except that in a fit of frustration her husband pointed a fork at her at meal time which she embellished. I finally concluded that I could not trust what she was telling me, and was glad that I had listened to the Lord speaking to my heart when she asked for a counseling visit at the church. I refused this and would speak only on the telephone. There's no telling what she would have done or said had I been there without anyone else present- that's a bad situation for a pastor to be in and should never allow himself to be in, anyway.

This type of "drama queen" personality lines up fairly closely with the familiar patterns found in the devotional text today. The woman Solomon warns about is the "adulterous woman". She is adulterous not only in the sense that she has been unfaithful to her husband, but that she desires more than anything to manipulate and wrest power over those who stand in her way. She will get this power any way that she can.

First of all, Solomon says, "her lips drip with honey and her mouth is smoother than oil." When some people speak this way, they usually do so because of ulterior motives. It is sweet not because she is sweet, but she is sweet and is smooth in order to mask the bitterness she hopes someone else will swallow her guile and deceitfulness. She knows most men crave female attention and will seek to use their sexuality to lure them into a trap from which they cannot get out. Sharp as a two-edged sword, this adulterous spirit entices us to to cut ourselves off from our marriages, our spouses, our families promising a better life. Then she will cut us again once she has gained financial stability or power from us. After all, she thinks, how can she trust a man who will be unfaithful to one spouse- chances are he will not be faithful to me, either. Indeed her feet go down to death. I have seen more than one person sacrifice and throw away everything they have ever had, including their marriages, their families, and all their material possessions because of one brief encounter that promised so much, but ended in misery.

Don't get me wrong, it is not entirely the fault of the adulterous woman. If the desire to be unfaithful in the man were not there to begin with, he would never have allowed himself to get into that situation. But there is so much brokeness and heartache in the world today because of our desire to be satisfied with less than what God desires for us. This is why pornography is so wicked and so bad. Many happily married men expose themselves to it because they think it will not harm them. But it does, whether his wife finds out about it or not because sooner or later the more this man exposes himself to the pornographic image in the tabloid or on the screen, the less he will be satisfied by his own wife. The heart of a woman knows when this happens, so stay as far away from this as possible. If necessary, get rid of your computer. You may not be able to read these online devotionals anymore, but far better to do this than to fall into the trap of the adulterous woman who will steal everything that you have ever had. By the way, please do not think I am focusing exclusively on women or think they are the soul cause of maritial problems. The adulterous man is also responsible and has his own set of problems and symptoms to which I will speak later. Please heed this warning, and have a blessed day.


Prayer: Dear God, I know that my satisfaction comes from none other than from You and from the one whom You have given me to share for a lifetime. Help me to put this adulterous woman- either in real life, or in plastic- as far away from me as You can get it. In Jesus Name,
Amen.