We continue with our year-ending Spiritual Exercises with the reading of Proverbs chapter Five and meditation on the verses that caught our attention. 

After reading the whole  chapter, I doubled back to verses 8 to 9 Where it says,

“Remove thy way far from her, And come not nigh the door of her house:  Lest thou give thine honour unto others, And thy years unto the cruel” (Proverbs 5:8-9).

Soul Searchlight:

What moral choices would make me vulnerable to dishonor?

When honor is lost, shame, discredit, ignominy, contempt, infamy and related evils are manifest.

I definitely don’t want any of those negatives in my life and bloodlines!

Digging Deep to avoid pitfalls:

This particular chapter draws  contrast between the enduring  joy of marital fidelity and the fleeting pleasure, and lasting pains of infidelity.

The world we are in, under the influences of the forces of evils,  have tried to redefine morality, in order to accommodate laxity, sexual promiscuity, and other forms of debasing conduct. 

If as a Christian, I judge your morality by the world and not by the Word of God, then, I should brace up for the oncoming dishonor and related shame, ignominy, etc.

Gem:

However, in order to avoid dishonor, I need to know and understand Godly values, and be ready to make right choices, even if it goes against the popular opinions. 

Judah: The Man who compromised on Godly values and gave out his honor.

Read Genesis 38 so that you can follow me as I retell the story.

Judah was the fourth son of Israel (Jacob). He was the one who came up with the plan to sell Joseph.

Possibly, he was either remorseful or his guilty conscience was eating him up, in the face of his dad’s griefs.  

So he left his covenant family, and went to his friend Hirah, a Canaanite, who lived in a morally corrupt society.

Judah married a Canaanite woman, against God’s Word to them. They had three (3) sons, and appeared to be prosperous. The eldest son had a wife, Tamar.

Then disaster befalls! God killed the first son Er, because he was evil (what’s strange about that- the culture was evil). God took out the second son , Onan,  for his selfishness.

In order to preserve his 3rd son’s life, Judah sent away Tamar, to remain in widowhood in her father’s until the last son Shelah, will  be ready for marriage.

In the days gone,  levirate marriage was the trend. And Shelah was to continue his brother’s bloodline with Tamar.

However,  Judah had no intention of risking the life of his son over Tamar.

Eventually, his wife died,  he traveled, and his daughter in-law, who knew about his non-existent moral values, faked a prostitute and entrapped him sexually.

For the fleeting pleasure, he gave her tokens that signified his authority and honor.

She got pregnant by that encounter.

When Judah heard, he stood on a high moral ground and approved the death sentence on her.

But the scheming woman presented evidence of his immorality and culpability in the debacle.

Can you even imagine how shaming it was for Judah’s sexual escapade with his daughter in law to be exposed publicly?

But wait a sec!

Judah repented. Although he took responsibility,  he never had sexual intercourse with her ever again. Read verse 26-30 and other chapters of Genesis, to know about his restoration to God’s perfect will.

The essence of doing these seasonal spiritual exercises is so that we can examine ourselves, repent, renew our minds, and continue to live as light and salt in this world, without demonization.

My takeaway from today’s Bible Reading is to always follow and uphold God’s moral values and never have to suffer shame or dishonor.

Let Us Pray. 

Father God, thank you for this soul searching lesson.

I repent of all the ways I compromised on your moral laws and supported the declining morality in our world.

Help me Father,  to stand out and stand strong as I live as your righteousness in this world. 

Help our world ,  especially the USA as we work towards standing against and overcoming obnoxious laws that  depraves or dehumanizes.

Help us Father, to stay faithful in marriage, not exploit our sexuality, and to act responsibly, and not kill our young,  in the matchless name of Jesus Christ. 

Coming up next is chapter 6

Shalom from Hephzibah Christly,Ph.D., #TheSpiritualWarrior,  December 5th, 2024.