Saying 9
“Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the LORD. For surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
Saying 16
Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right course. Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat. For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.
Saying 17
Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old. Invest in truth and never sell it—in wisdom and instruction and understanding. The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice, and he who fathers a wise son will delight in him. May your father and mother be glad, and may she who gave you birth rejoice!
Saying 18
My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways. For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well. Like a robber she lies in wait and multiplies the faithless among men.
Saying 19
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine, those who go to taste mixed drinks. Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perversities. You will be like one sleeping on the high seas or lying on the top of a mast: “They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I did not know it! When can I wake up to search for another drink?”
““Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the LORD. For surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.” Envy! My mother used to describe this sin as “the green-eyed monster.” Looking over the fence or next door at what your neighbor’s got and immediately lusting for their house/car/boat/clothes/or even their spouse. There’s a good reason that the Tenth Commandments says “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Lust after something your neighbor has long enough and you will begin scheming on ways to take it away from him or you will become so unhappy with what you have that you will make the rest of your family unhappy. And who knows what is really going on next door? The Ghanaians have a saying, “Just because you hear the sound of fufu being pounded does not mean that you know what kind of soup they will eat with the fufu.” Fufu is a starchy staple made from boiled yams, cassava, plantain, or any combination thereof. When your neighbors are pounding fufu, the sound echoes through the neighborhood because it sounds like a pile driver next door. Fufu ingredients are pounded in a huge mortar with a 6-foot-long pestle. Ingredients for fufu are relatively cheap, but what about the soup? One of the cheapest soups is made from dried okra and tomatoes and may or may not contain any meat or fish. Nice meat and fish are luxury items that might never appear at your neighbor’s house.
“Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right course. Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat. For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.” When you are a slave to your appetite, your appetite is driving you and not God. There’s a lot written about alcohol addiction but there are other kinds of addiction such as addiction to food or shopping or gambling or even work. Addictions of any kind are on a continuum, and one addiction may be substituted for another. If you realize you have an addictive personality, watch out! Your addiction may become more important to you than anything else, including your family.
“Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old. Invest in truth and never sell it—in wisdom and instruction and understanding. The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice, and he who fathers a wise son will delight in him. May your father and mother be glad, and may she who gave you birth rejoice!” Few things are better than watching your kids turn into wonderful productive adults who behave wisely and who raise good kids themselves. Although this verse only mentions sons, wise daughters are equally important. All of us are getting older every minute, and old age arrives a lot sooner than you might expect. One day you’re a cute, handsome twenty-something and the next you wake up and find you’re in your seventies. You know when the weather is going to change because injuries you had when you were young are now letting you know of their existence. You look in the mirror and your mother or father looks back at you. Be kind to old people because some day, God willing, you will be one!
“My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways. For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well. Like a robber she lies in wait and multiplies the faithless among men.” It’s a little-acknowledged fact that demons transfer during sex. Casual sex can lead to a lifetime of misery, even if you don’t acquire a sexually transmitted disease. Thirty years ago, one of our friends was a bright young man with many gifts and talents, but he began involving himself with women from fetish-worshiping families. Now our friend is confused and cannot focus on any one task; in addition, he has become corrupt and mishandles resources. When the Bible speaks of a narrow well, remember children who have fallen down well shafts so narrow that other excavations had to be made to deliver the child safely to the surface. Sexual immorality traps the unwary in situations from which there is no escape.
“Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine, those who go to taste mixed drinks. Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perversities. You will be like one sleeping on the high seas or lying on the top of a mast: “They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I did not know it! When can I wake up to search for another drink?” If ever there were a classic description of the feelings of an alcoholic, this is it. Drug addiction was not a big thing during Bible times, but this description could equally apply to the effects of drugs.
APPLICATION: What do all these various problems have in common? LUST! Lust is an overwhelming desire to have something, a desire so strong that it drives us to do things we would not otherwise do. Succumb to lust and you forget everything else apart from your own needs and desires.
The time to deal with lust is to decide your course of action before lust takes hold and then to oppose lust as strongly as possible. But can we do this by ourselves? Not really. That’s why Alcoholics Anonymous encourages people to call on a Higher Power. 1 John 2:15-17 tells us, “Do not love the world, or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life-is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it. But he who does the will of God abides forever.” We need power from God to oppose lust and to become the people God wants us to be. It is ludicrous to assume that we can do everything by ourselves. God made us for Himself and God will help us, if we only will turn to Him and ask Him to transform us.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, many of us are struggling. We feel as if we have been caught in deep narrow wells from which there is no escape. But darkness is as light to You and You are the One who can free us from our bondage. Lord, help everyone who reads these words to confess their sins and their needs to You so that You can graciously deliver them and transform them. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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