Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 167 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Proverbs 5:7-14 Making Wise Choices #2

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 167 of our Trek, and yesterday explored the first six verses of Proverbs Chapter 5. We will remain at camp for a couple more days as we explore the remaining verses of Proverbs Chapter 5. If you miss any days of our Wisdom-Trek episodes, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. As we sojourn through each day of life, it is good to take time each day and reflect on all the blessings we have in our lives. Even if you are going through a difficult time, there are still many things in life that you can be thankful for. One way that I keep this focus is every morning when I get up, the first thing that I do is to read and pray through a list of items for which I am thankful. As new items come to mind, I add them to my list, and any items that may no longer be relevant I remove.  Starting each day with my gratitude list helps to set the tone for my entire day.

As I mentioned yesterday, I have discovered that as we sit around the campfire and the night wears on, the stories shared become more personal in nature. Today we will dig for more of these personal wisdom nuggets found in Proverbs Chapter 5. Solomon continues to warn his children with strong words about the dangers of stepping outside of God’s precepts for marriage and relationships. While this passage cautions about an inappropriate sexual relationship, it can also be applied to others areas of life when we choose to ignore the guidelines that are set out in Scripture. While we may not fully understand all the reasons, principles, and precepts that God has established in His Word, by faith we can trust that it is because of God’s love for us that he has established these boundaries in our lives.

The next few chapters of Proverbs deal with some of the weaknesses we have as humans, and since God chose to leave them in His love letter to us, we will cover them as well as we dig for the nuggets of wisdom that are contained in the verses.

Since the beginning of recorded history, humans have struggled with keeping God’s commands, especially when it comes to appropriate physical relationships, but it also applies to all relationships that we have. Sometimes we may think it is more than we can handle, but Paul addressed this in his 1^st letter to the church in Corinth in Chapter 10 verse 13 where he wrote, “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.”

Of course, it is up to us to choose the steps that lead up to that temptation. Just like the campfire that burns brightly before us at our camp, the closer we get to the fire and the more we play with the burning wood, we will likely get burnt by the very embers that we are playing with.

The overall subject in Proverbs Chapter 5 is avoiding immoral women although the same principle applies in avoiding immoral men also. If you missed yesterday’s Wisdom-Trek, it would be best if you listened to it first so that you will be familiar with the story before today’s passage.

Let’s continue and look at verses 7-14.

⁷ So now, my sons, listen to me.
Never stray from what I am about to say:
⁸ Stay away from her!
Don’t go near the door of her house!

Solomon advises that his sons should not even meet the married woman. Solomon’s son must be very careful. He should not enter her house. He should not even walk near her door. As with our campfire, if you don’t want to get burnt, don’t play with fire.

If the son walks near her door, then he might enter. If he enters, he might listen to her. Her speech is attractive (verse 3). She will tempt him. If he listens to her, he will desire to have sex with her.

Solomon’s father, David, had a similar experience (2 Samuel 11-12). From a distance, he saw a beautiful married woman Bathsheba. She was having a bath naked on the roof of her house, which was common. Since King David’s palace was higher, he could see over to her roof, but he did not look away. If he had looked away, he would have avoided many troubles.

Instead, David watched the woman. He sent a servant to call her. She was a married woman, but she came to David. David talked with her. They had sex. They even had a baby together. David tried to hide his actions. He even caused the woman’s husband to die in battle. Then David married Bathsheba.

God knew what David had done. The baby, who would have been David’s youngest son, died as a direct result of the choices David made. After this, David turned to God. David asked God to forgive him. His prayer is in Psalm 51. Later, David and Bathsheba had another son. This second son was Solomon, who wrote the Book of Proverbs. We can see why Solomon had such strong cautionary language with his children, he knew the plight all too well.

⁹ If you do, you will lose your honor
and will lose to merciless people all you have achieved.
¹⁰ Strangers will consume your wealth, and someone else will enjoy the fruit of your labor.

A man should not waste his time and resources with another man’s wife. He should use his resources wisely. We must all be careful with our God-given resources. We should use our resources for good things, not for evil things.

¹¹ In the end, you will groan in anguish
when disease consumes your body.
¹² You will say, “How I hated discipline!
If only I had not ignored all the warnings!
¹³ Oh, why didn’t I listen to my teachers?
Why didn’t I pay attention to my instructors?
¹⁴ I have come to the brink of utter ruin,
and now I must face public disgrace.”

These verses teach us the result if we live for our desires. In the end, our wrong desires and choices will ruin us. They will bring us to despair.

Solomon warns his son. He explains what will happen to a foolish son. The son will become an old man one day. Then the son will ask himself what his life achieved. He will see that he achieved nothing. He ruined his life because he did not serve God. Instead, the foolish son served his emotions and desires. He wasted his energy and resources on merciless people (verse 9). His resources brought wealth to another man’s home (verse 10).

We need to build our lives on a solid foundation as described in Matthew 7:24-27, ²⁴ “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. ²⁵ Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. ²⁶ But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. ²⁷ When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” 

Let us build our lives in God’s way.

As we reflect around our campfire today, we clearly see that there are consequences for the choices that we make in life.  If we are unwise in our choices, the results will not be pleasant. If we choose wisely, the results will be built on a solid foundation. These life lessons are valuable to everyone we meet, so encourage your friends and family to join us each day and come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy. Tomorrow we will continue on with Solomon’s teaching about wisdom in Proverbs 5.

That will finish our podcast for today. Remember to listen to your daily dose of wisdom on Wisdom-Trek.com, or subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, Spreaker, SoundCloud, Stitcher, or YouTube so the episodes will be downloaded to you automatically each day. Please share Wisdom-Trek with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person so they can come along with us each day.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this Trek together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!