Proverbs 7:21-23 

²¹With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk. ²²All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose ²³till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life.

Contest

It had been argued that donkeys are very stubborn animals. They don’t move when they don’t want to move. And, there was a humorous competition on how to make stubborn donkey runs. Three participants came. The first contestant was a lawyer. In his robe, the lawyer commanded the donkey with his authority: “Donkey, run! If you don’t run, I will use all legal rules and throw you into prison.”

The donkey just ignored him and brayed mockingly. “Uhh huh! Uhh huh!”

The next contestant was a medical doctor. He also threatened the donkey. “Donkey, run! If you don’t run, I will inject you with corona virus and you will die.”

The donkey did nothing, but again brayed mockingly. “Uhh huh! Uhh huh!”

The third contestant was a pastor. He whispered to the donkey; the donkey ran so fast and never looked back. The pastor won. The lawyer and the doctor asked, “What did you whisper?” The pastor said, “I told the donkey, ‘Hey, donkey! Since you don’t like to move, I’ll just tell the doctor to circumcise you!’ That’s all!”

Of course, you can speculate who composed that story. Well, do you agree that whisper or smooth talk could influence anyone more effectively? So, if godly wisdom is whispered or told smoothly, will it affect anyone who may hear it? Someone said that “Wisdom is too precious that should be told to selected few.”

It’s foolishness to disregard words of wisdom. Wisdom is beyond the ability of fools to comprehend. The Lord offers wisdom to everyone; believers accept it by faith. When we grow in our faith, we want to read, hear and obey God’s word. Obedience by faith to godly instructions is a manifestation of godly wisdom.

What is the level of your trust in the Lord? When trust in the Lord grows stronger, we also grow stronger in avoiding seductive temptations of the flesh. Followers of darkness are active in trying to seduce everyone into wickedness.

1. Seduce

²¹With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk.

Smooth talk is pleasant to the ear. We tend to listen intently to soft voices more than loud deafening voices, right? Soft and smooth whisper attracts more listeners than harsh and earsplitting noise. Have you personally observed it? You whisper to someone in a group; others will try to listen or ask, “What’s that?”

Loud Prayer

In contrast, loud voices disturb even if it’s unintentional; it invites hostility.

In a movie, loud prayer coming from religious center disturbed the sleep of a man in the neighborhood. The man complained, “Lord, you are omniscient. You know everything. So, why do these people need to shout their prayer to you?”

Can you agree that God listens when we pray from our heart? Let us learn from the Scripture. Abraham told his servant, “Get a wife for my son Isaac!” The servant had testified how he sincerely prayed in his heart in Genesis 24:42-46: ⁴²“When I came to the spring today, I said, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come. ⁴³See, I am standing beside this spring. If a young woman comes out to draw water and I say to her, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar,” ⁴⁴and if she says to me, “Drink, and I’ll draw water for your camels too,” let her be the one the Lord has chosen for my master’s son.’ ⁴⁵“Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’

⁴⁶“She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too.’ So I drank, and she watered the camels also.

The Lord may grant it when we pray sincerely from the heart. Situational events may cause us to pray silently or cry aloud. Of course when everybody is sleeping or resting, to cry aloud is not very pleasant, unless it is an emergency call.

It is also good practice to pray silently when we sense pressure from things in our surrounding or from those who may entice us with leisure of the flesh. With human weakness, anyone can fall into disgrace when snared by pleasure.

2.  Snare

²²All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose ²³till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life.

A snare is effective, if it is set up where it is not visible to potential victims. Immorality is a snare; it is a trap that is exploited mostly in dark places. Avoid it at all cost. What discipline is needed to ignore immorality? Pray for godly wisdom.

 Helen

Have you heard about Helen, “The face that launched a thousand ships?”

Helen was married to Menelaus, the king of Sparta. Sparta is located in Greece. A handsome prince named Paris visited the kingdom of Sparta, in the pretext of a supposed diplomatic mission. Paris was from the kingdom of Troy, Troy’s located in present day Turkey. Meanwhile, Menelaus, the king of Sparta had to attend the funeral of his grandfather in the island of Crete. Menelaus left and assigned Helen his wife to entertain Prince Paris. Paris had fallen in love with the beautiful Helen. Helen had fallen in love with the handsome Prince Paris, and they escaped. Then, thousands of warships from Sparta were launched, and the Trojan War followed.

A snare is hidden in disguise to trap a victim; it is not visible to the victim. A sensible person won’t intentionally step on a snare or trap. Insensible victims are snared by accident. Even cautious people are victimized or trapped accidentally.

Immorality won’t expose itself in the open. It is disguised to snare victims.

The Lord Jesus had warned in Matthew 5:28, ²⁸I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Adultery is aroused in the eyes, and it is cultivated and developed in the heart. Have you heard an argument about who’s to be blamed when sexual abuse happens against anybody? Such argument is not very fruitful. Can respectable behavior avoid sexual abuse? If one behaves in respectable manner but sexual abuse still happens, the blame should fall on the attacker, not on the victim.

Personally, how do you interpret what it advised in Ecclesiastes 9:10-11?

¹⁰Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom. ¹¹I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.

Competition with others can provoke anyone. We dream to achieve what others had achieved. We desire what others had accomplished. There’s so much envy of what others had attained. Envy can be instrumental to behave properly.

We should approach life not by chances but with purpose, “To testify of the transformational work of Christ in our life.” Avoid a mindset of, “Que sera sera” (Whatever will be, will be). When we’re mindful of the will of God, transformation happens. The word of God should be our guide on how we behave properly.

Pray for inspiration of the Holy Spirit to discern and avoid smooth talks of deception; pray for increase of faith to follow godly instruction more consistently.

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