Tag Archives: live right

Reading:

Proverbs 5:15-18; 6:23-35

Whether or not I want to safeguard my own moral purity, God wants me to.

So He provides me with instructions and commandments designed to keep me away from any woman not my wife.

“Drink waters out of thine own cistern” (Proverbs 5:15). If she isn’t mine, I shouldn’t take from her any satisfaction of any sexual need or desire.

“Rejoice with the wife of thy youth” (Proverbs 5:18). If she isn’t my wife, she isn’t mine to enjoy in any sensual way.

“For the commandment is a lamp…To keep thee from…a strange woman” (Proverbs 6:23,24). When I focus on and live by God’s ways and instructions, no other woman will draw me away from my wife.

“Lust not after her beauty in thine heart” (Proverbs 6:25). Just because she is attractive in body or character is no reason to desire her for myself.

“But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul” (Proverbs 6:32). No pleasure and no person is worth that price!

[The Scriptures say in Proverbs 6:23 -- To keep thee...from the flattery of the tongue of a strange....]

from Proverbs 6:23

Reading:

Proverbs 16

I read this chapter two mornings ago…and only now am getting to this part!

Two trains of thought impress(ed) me: pride and properly-seasoned speech.

“Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished” (5).

abomination — hateful, despicable, utterly gross; to be rejected, opposed, and cast away.

Everyone that is proud. No exceptions. Wow! 😯

Need more divine perspective on pride?

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (18).

“Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud” (19).

Why would anyone want pride?!

And why would anyone relish tasteless speech? Or worse yet, bad-tasting speech?

“The wise in heart shall be called prudent: and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning” (21).

“Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones” (24).

Oh, to have that kind of speech!! With that kind of effect on others and on myself!

Where, oh where, does it come from?! And is it available to me (of all people)?

“The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD” (1).

Oh, yes! Woo hoo! Thank you!

[The Scriptures say in Proverbs 16:24 -- Pleasant words are as an honeycomb]

from Proverbs 16:24