Thought for My Kids - For dudes only (Proverbs 5)

Okay, sorry girls, but this one is for the guys, and for you, son, in particular.

If you can learn this lesson while you're young, it can save you years of heartache later in life.

(5:3) - So, who is this strange, forbidden woman that you are being warned about in Proverbs 5? This group of wise sayings is a warning to not be involved with any girl or woman who is not your wife.

You are to treat all women respectfully. We see many examples of how Jesus treated women, even those women whom others considered "bad", with dignity and respect. Remember the woman at the well in Samaria? (see John 4), and also the woman caught in adultery in John chapter 8? And for those who are followers of Jesus, the Bible tells you that you are to treat younger women as you would sisters, and older women as you would mothers (I Timothy 5:2).

But there is only one woman that you are to relate to in an intimate, sexual way, and that is your wife. Any other woman for you is to be considered a "forbidden" woman. You are to (5:8) "keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house."

Jesus goes further in Matthew 5:27-30 - "everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

Why is this? Is to even wrong to look at an attractive female?

The human body is good. God said so. In Genesis, we see that God looked at His creation and said it was good. So, a woman's body is good. Our bodies are not "evil". But you are not to look at a "forbidden" woman's body (and this must include our imaginations, as we are able to bring up these pictures in our "mind's eye", as some have called it.) because that woman is NOT your wife. This sexual intimacy is reserved by God for pro-creation and for enjoyment between you and your one and only life partner and helper, your wife.

Sex is also good and beautiful, as God designed it to be, within the boundary of the marriage relationship. To see the devastating results of going outside this God-ordained, God-designed boundary, you need only look at the remaining verses of Proverbs 5, and the second half of Proverbs 6.

But think again about the beginning. What one thing did our Creator God say was NOT good? It was not good that man was alone, and did not have a good helper for him. Then He made woman, and brought her to man.

God is our Provider (5:17-18). He is always faithful, son, and in His grace to you, He will provide one of two things: 1. Grace to live a pure life, staying far away from sexual sins, and focusing your best efforts on following Him. In this you may greatly rejoice, as you are able to give full attention to Him in your life as a single, not being hindered in any way by the need to provide for and give attention to a wife's needs [see I Cor. 7:32]. Or, 2. He will provide for you a suitable help-mate, as He did Adam, and then you may "rejoice in the wife of your youth," as we read in Proverbs 5.