In Pursuit of Wisdom

Proverbs Podcasts 2020, #8

Warren E. Berkley

This is Podcasts #8 in this series, derived from the book of Proverbs. I have comments about chapter seven, which is another step the father takes in warning his son of sexual immorality.

Has this ever happened to you? You witness or know about a devastating moral crash. You gather your teenage sons around you, & describe what happened. Tell them how the temptation came to pass, describe the ruin that resulted and then tell them– BE ALERT; DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU.

That’s the essence of Proverbs chapter seven. “My son,” it begins. It ends like an ox going to the slaughter. The father pleads with his son, “don’t let this happen to you.”

What the Father saw out his window was not an innocent young man being forced to sin. No. The young man who went to the slaughter had no good moral sense, and he took the road to her house.

Likewise, the female in this affair was not forced. She was all that the word “seductress” means. “Dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart, her feet did not stay at home, she seizes him and kisses him, makes promises about the absence of her husband, then takes the young man home.

It is a moral crash. The father saw it and quickly told his sons about it, to illustrate the ruin; to become an occasion to remind them to be discreet and disciplined.

Some fathers may think it wise to never speak to their sons of such scandals. This father believes it wise to sit his boys down and tell them what he saw, using the scene to stress purity, discipline and wisdom.

I’ve said in an earlier podcasts, I believe parents should see this passage and consider the value of frank conversations with their children about this danger.

To that I will give you a couple of bonus statements. (1) If your child has a phone, take that phone from them without warning from time to time, and see what they’ve been doing with their phone. Get someone to help you dig into the depths of that device, behind hidden apps, to see what they’ve been doing, who they have been talking to. I would hope you will find nothing disturbing. But you are putting them on alert. You are reminding them of the danger.

(2) When you talk to your children about these things – don’t let it be just harsh warnings. Speak to them of the positive side of this. The beauty and purity of a marriage between two Christians. Locating sexual activity where God put it.

Marriage is honorable, and the bed undefiled. But fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. So it is written in Hebrews 13.

Thank You for listening.

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