Proverbs 5 – if you haven’t read my thoughts on the book of Proverbs yet, you’ll want to do so here. This isn’t a comprehensive look at each verse, but it is how God spoke to me through particular chapter of His Word at this particular chapter in my life. I hope it can speak to you as well, and I hope you are encouraged to seek Him in His Word. And if you missed Proverbs 4, you should also check that out here. Otherwise, on to Proverbs 5!
5:1 – (CSB) My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen closely to my understanding. Let us first and foremost never forget that God calls us His children. He chose to call us children. We were born into sin, not into God’s family. When we were in our most unlovely state, God still said ‘Yep, I want him. I want her. I need him. I need her.’ And He adopted us into His family. We were broken, and unlovable, and rotten, God chose us to be a part of His family when we had nothing we could offer Him in return (Romans 5:8 & Ephesians 1:5). Then on top of all that, He also chooses to impart His wisdom and understanding to us through His Word that he preserved over thousands of years so we would be able to read it and learn from it.
I love the full picture that the following three translations give of this verse, so I’m going to go through all three translations of them:
5:2 – (CSB) So that you may maintain discretion and your lips safeguard knowledge. God’s Word, when we just pay attention to it and spend any time with it at all, will supernaturally give us discretion and maintain discretion in our words and decisions. Our lips will keep knowledge safe, to hand down knowledge to those around us and to future generations. God plants His Word in our hearts, and it affects our actions and our lives.
5:2 – (CJB) So that you will preserve discretion and your lips keep watch over knowledge. God’s Word helps us to keep discretion awake and alive in our hearts. It stirs up a natural inclination to know what words to say at the right time, and what words to not say. Because the right words spoken at the wrong time, are still the wrong words. God helps us discern and act on that discretion. Our lips tend knowledge, are always looking for knowledge and how to grow it. They help us sort good advice and knowledge from bad advice and knowledge.
5:2 – (NLT) Then you will show discernment, and your lips will express what you’ve learned. When we read the Word, it naturally comes out in our words. That is the power of God’s Word, He promises that it will plant itself in our hearts and grow and flourish and that we can’t help but be changed by it. It makes me think of a little baby when he or she has just finished a bottle of milk and there are little dribbles of milk all over their mouth. You know you’ve been feasting on the Word of God when it starts showing up on your lips and in your words.
5:3-23 – For my full thoughts on this section, and how it transformed my view of Proverbs as a whole, see this article here. But in a nutshell, I believe that not only is God talking about marital fidelity in these scriptures, He’s talking about adultery as a metaphor for idolatry. Anytime we put anything above God as more important or more deserving of our time, we run away from our first true love of God and engage in idolatry. When we worry more than we trust God, we’re engaging in adultery and idolatry. When we think about wanting that new job position more than we spend time thinking about God’s truth that He is directing our steps (Proverbs 16:9), we’re engaging in adultery and idolatry. Engaging in anything that does not align with the truth of God’s Word steals our joy and our strength and we give up our vitality to others and our years to someone cruel (5:9 – CSB). All of these verses, if we look at them and insert our own unhealthy desires or or obsessions, we see how it directly affects our lives, ripping us apart from our core.
So now, to keep myself from the adulterous and idolatrous path, any time I read across something in Proverbs that is listed as foolishness or as a warning, I take a small moment to pray and ask God to help me resist the temptation to walk in that path of adultery and idolatry. When Proverbs gives wise counsel and good advice on how we should act as Christians, I take a moment to pray and ask God to give me the strength to know when to act on that wisdom. I promise you, it has transformed my life. I can feel and hear and see verses 5:1-2 coming to life in me. When speaking to others, and I get ready to say something, I feel this little check before I say it. I take a moment to evaluate what I was going to say and realize that it is the absolutely wrong way to say something or the wrong time to say something. It helps us think before we speak! And believe me, I need so much of that in my life. It has preserved relationships and prevented arguments and hurt feelings probably even more than I could begin to understand. This book is so powerful for your life. I pray you will fall in love with this book as I have and start incorporating it into your life – to follow verse 5:1 and pay attention to this wise counsel. And God will work wonders in your life to bring about His promise of discernment and wise counsel in 5:2.
Prayer – Dear Heavenly Father, I thank You so much for the power of Your Word in my life. Help me see when I am being adulterous and idolatrous to You. Show me how it is affecting my life negatively and give me the strength to come back to Your path so that I do not wander aimlessly. Plant Your good counsel in my heart and help me follow it when Your gentle voice nudges me in the right direction.
Friend, I pray this same prayer over you today. May God’s Word start blooming in your heart so you can see the fruit of His Work in your life.
Until tomorrow,
– Just a girl pursuing her reflection in the mirror of God’s Word, and praying you will do the same
Scripture quotations marked (CSB) are taken from the Christian Standard Bible® Copyright© 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers.Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (CJB) are taken from the Complete Jewish Bible,Copyright © 1998 and 2016 by David H. Stern. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.