Don't Fail to Plan!

Daily Reading: Proverbs 7

Scripture Focus: Keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye. (Proverbs 7.2)

Devotional Thought:  This chapter of Proverbs is uncomfortable at best.  The young man who is snared by sin doesn’t seem to be seeking the sin that finds him.  And therein lies the frightening truth that has been revealed from this Proverb:  we don’t have to go out looking for sin; it will find us easily enough if we are not constantly on guard against it.

Consider two of the young man’s characteristics that led him to his fall:

• He went near temptation.  He knew where his path led, and the fact that he was walking that way under cover of darkness suggests that he may have had another motive in mind.  I think we do the same thing at times – we try to get as close to sin as humanly possible without actually succumbing to the temptation (I believe this is the whole idea behind pornography.  Looking and not touching doesn’t count as adultery in our culture).

• He stayed near temptation.  While he doesn’t immediately follow this woman into her home, he stayed in her presence long enough to be convinced to go with her.

Satan, the Father of Lies, prowls the earth like a lion, looking to steal our joy and destroy our souls.  Wisdom would dictate that we heed the advice of Proverbs 7.2: "Keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye."  The young man in this Proverb does not attempt to foresee the dangers and therefore avoid them.  He has, in the words of Benjamin Franklin, failed to plan, and is therefore planning to fail.

Prayer: Lord, your Word is a path of life.  Help me keep your teaching as the apple of my eye - to hide your Word in my heart - that I might not succumb to temptation.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 5.7-12

7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you.

8 Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me.

9 For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue.

10 Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against you.

11 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you.

12 For you bless the righteous, O LORD; you cover him with favor as with a shield.