Episode Details

Prayer

Heavenly Father, There is nothing I can gain that is more precious than wisdom, and I thank you that you have provided me with the means of getting wisdom through your Holy Word. As I turn again to you today, please meet with me and I ask that you would give me wisdom. I lack the needed wisdom to honour and obey you as I ought, and I stand in great need – please hear my request and bless me Lord. For your name’s sake I pray, Amen.

Reading

Prov 1:10-12 - “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. 11. If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; 12. like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit”

Meditation.

Proverbs 1:11-19 is a case study of the warning laid out in verse ten. Consider 1 Corinthians 15:33. “Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”.” The people that we invite into our lives have a profound and lasting impact on who we ourselves become. Godless people will not help us to love Christ, and they will tend to draw us toward sinful ways of thinking and living. Following the introductory material of Proverbs 1, the first call of wisdom proper we see here is to avoid the enticement of sinners. Sin is not just some abstract reality, it’s personal, and it comes to us through people. Because of this, taking godless people to be our close companions is spiritually dangerous business. People who do not trust, revere, and submit to God cannot help us to trust, revere, and submit to God either. In verses 11-19 we have some concrete training in how to beware of the enticement of sinners.

The first lesson laid out in the case study is that we must identify worldly enticements. That’s what Solomon is helping his son to do here. Let’s look at verses 10-12 again: “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit”. Now maybe you read that and think to yourself that no one has ever tried to entice you with something like that. Fair enough, it is a somewhat extreme example, but the extreme example is helpful because it illustrates so clearly the basic nature of worldly enticements from godless people. In studying the example, I believe that we find three major characteristics of worldly enticements – we’ll address the first here, and the second two in subsequent studies.

The first characteristic of sinful enticements that we see here is that they are self-centred. “If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit”. There is no concern for others in these words, there is only a using of others for the purpose of selfish gain.

Sin is self-centred. Love is selfless, and abides in sacrificial service of itself to do good to others. Sin is selfish, willing to sacrifice the energies and life of others to gain more for self. Love lays itself down for the good of others. Sin lays others down for the good of self. We see this principle starkly demonstrated in our verses.

Be ye doers of the word…

Considering these principles, and the example laid out in these verses, this should help us to identify the real-life “offers” we might receive, as warned against in verse ten. If someone makes you an offer, and it comes at the expense of others, it’s a dead giveaway that this is a self-centred and sinful proposition. It might be cheating on the boss through laziness or neglect; or cheating on your spouse with another person. It might involve passively ignoring the needs of others when it is in your power to meet those needs. It might involve taking advantage of o