No Secret is Truly Secret

Our scripture reading today is Proverbs 5. What is done in secret is never truly a secret; God sees and knows all that we do. Solomon warns his son against the dangers of the forbidden woman.

May 5: Proverbs 5

Avoid Seduction

1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen closely to my understanding
2 so that [you] may maintain discretion and your lips safeguard knowledge.
3 Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her words are smoother than oil,
4 in the end she’s as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death; her steps head straight for Sheol.
6 She doesn’t consider the path of life; she doesn’t know that her ways are unstable.
7 So now, [my] sons, listen to me, and don’t turn away from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep your way far from her. Don’t go near the door of her house.
9 Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others and your years to someone cruel;
10 strangers will drain your resources, and your earnings will end up in a foreigner’s house.
11 At the end of your life, you will lament when your physical body has been consumed,
12 and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and how my heart despised correction.
13 I didn’t obey my teachers or listen closely to my mentors.
14 I was on the verge of complete ruin before the entire community.”

Enjoy Marriage

15 Drink water from your own cistern, water flowing from your own well.
16 Should your springs flow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?
17 They should be for you alone and not for you [to share] with strangers.
18 Let your fountain be blessed, and take pleasure in the wife of your youth.
19 A loving doe, a graceful fawn- let her breasts always satisfy you; be lost in her love forever.
20 Why, my son, would you be infatuated with a forbidden woman or embrace the breast of a stranger?
21 For a man’s ways are before the Lord’s eyes, and He considers all his paths.
22 A wicked man’s iniquities entrap him; he is entangled in the ropes of his own sin.
23 He will die because there is no instruction, and be lost because of his great stupidity.

In this chapter, Solomon warns against sexual immorality and encourages his son to enjoy his wife and marriage. There are some things we just don’t think to warn our kids about, but Solomon really laid it all out there. Sometimes the most practical advice is also the most overlooked unfortunately.

Beginning in verse 15, Solomon speaks of the marriage relationship in a very poetic manner to help his son recognize the beauty of it and the importance of protecting that bond. But then he circles back around for a final warning against sexual immorality. Solomon may have understood how the secret of adultery with Bathsheba brought disaster to his father, King David and wanted his son to guard his marriage against this sin and pain.

Verse 21 is an important reminder for everyone whether already dealing with sexual immorality issues or just as a warning to discourage these choices. “Your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths.” That which is done in secret is still seen by God because He sees all that we do. No matter how sneaky and careful a person is, God always sees; no sin is hidden from His sight.

Pray today for God to forgive any secret sins that you have been hiding.