The Danger Is Great, The Temptation Is Powerful, The Threat Is Everywhere

Proddatur (LGBT-TYP-BIN)

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Sin And Worldly Pleasure Offer An Escape From Duty And Labor

‘For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, Proverbs 9:14’

The danger is great. The temptation is powerful. The threat is everywhere. Though Lady Wisdom had offered fabulous blessings and security to men (Pr 9:1-12), a competing woman, deceitful and seductive, allures and invites men to their destruction (Pr 9:13-18).

Who is this other woman? Who is this competitor to Lady Wisdom? She is Lady Folly, Solomon’s personification of sin and worldly pleasure, who is represented by a foolish and whorish woman inviting men to commit adultery with her, literally and figuratively.

Proverbs 8 personified wisdom. Solomon introduced Lady Wisdom (Pr 8:1-9), listed her benefits (Pr 8:10-21), showed God possessing her before creation (Pr 8:22-31), and concluded with another appeal (Pr 8:32-36). In Proverbs 9, he compared Lady Wisdom’s offers of blessings to Lady Folly’s enticements to destruction. Compare especially the two invitations (Pr 9:4,16), the two meals (Pr 9:5,17), and the two results (Pr 9:11,18).

Personification is a figure of speech in which an abstract concept is represented by a person. The features of the concept to be learned are found in the actions or traits of the representation.

Sin and worldly pleasure offer an escape from duty and labor. This wicked sin clamors for your attention, so it can distract you from your duties and destroy your character, reputation, and productivity. Sin lies about the pleasures of folly by making them appear very enjoyable while hiding the horrible results and consequences for those that join in worldly living.

Sinful living is avoided by faithfulness to one’s calling and rejecting any situations that create opportunities for the flesh (Rom 13:13). If David had been fighting with his men, he would not have even seen Bathsheba (II Sam 11:1). Sin and worldly pleasure will be encountered everywhere in this sinful world, so the whole armor of God must be worn every day, and the heart kept with all diligence, in order to stand (Pr 4:23; Eph 6:10-18).

Jesus Christ, the King of glory and the holy Groom of His church, calls to all His people, “Come out, my people, that ye be not partakers of sins, and that ye receive not of plagues” (Rev 18:4). The Lord is jealous, and rightfully so. He hates spiritual adultery. Come out today, reader, lest there be no tomorrow. Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding (Pr 9:6).

(Source: LGBT/PIB/GR/TYP/BIN/USPA/WN/IAIJ)