Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words, who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God. Surely her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead. None who go to her return or attain the paths of life. (Proverbs 2:16-19 NIV)
King Solomon gives a stark warning about “the adulterous women” much like he did about wicked men in the preceding verses and again says that wisdom will save you from them. He describes both the infidelity of her personality and her actions.
There are two things to glean from this passage, one bad and one good. First the bad news. The adulterous woman has ignored the covenant she made with God, and before Jesus came to earth, pairing up with her “led down to death and the spirits of the dead” (the wages of sin). When you join with her, you can’t just jump into the relationship and then jump out unscathed, “none who go to her return or attain the paths of life.” In other words, you join her in death. This is a surety because sin cannot go unpunished, and the punishment is always death.
But the second takeaway is good news... you and I, if we are Christians, are blessed to be able to escape this trap (death) through a relationship with Jesus. And God, in the abundant grace and mercy He is famous for, also provides a way for us to not only turn from the sin and redeem ourselves, but his invitation also extends to the wicked men and adulterous women we encounter along the way in life. We should not hang out with them, but we can tell them about Jesus and His saving grace through believing in faith that Jesus is God in the flesh, died on the cross for all the sins of all men for all time, was buried in a tomb, and came back to life on the third day. We can tell them the facts, but they must yield to the conviction of the Holy Spirit themself to be saved.
Read again the last devotion I sent you on verses 2:20-22. Recall that what Solomon describes so far in Proverbs is a motif of life here on earth. Sometimes the consequences can be very harmful, even devastating—to ourselves and others. Always seek God’s wisdom. God will show you the good path—the right, just and fair way to go in your decisions. He will guide you from your heart and the discretion He will reveal to you will convict and correct your path. Use his teachings to guard against harm to yourself, to the ones you love, and others. And God will use you to lead even the wicked men and adulterous women to the Good News of His saving grace.
I love you!
Dad
