Polution Control

(Proverbs 5:3 KJV)  For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:

Now Proverbs switches to the opposite approach.  How do the wisdom-rejecters think and operate? 

Take the term “strange woman" (adulteress NASB) (2114a).  In Proverbs it is usually, if not always, used figuratively.  While there are many lessons that are taught in a literal approach to this verse, don’t limit your understanding to the literal.  If this were just about drifting off into the world of prostitutes and whores I would skip it.  I don’t feel any great temptation to drift in that direction.  My weaknesses run in different directions. 

This is a word that means “stranger”.  We need to understand that we have people around us that are not a part of us.  They may live and worship with us, but they are not of us.  Church members and pastors are too often deceivers, not believers.  They have the best of motives.  They want people to be happy.  They want people to be comfortable.  As a result people are seduced into a false security.

This verse points out how the promises, ideas, methods and priorities of these people drips with sweet promises.  We have a real danger of immersing ourselves in their thinking and world view.  We need to avoid it at all costs, but this is almost impossible.  So much of our lives are spent in their world, listening to their phrases and thought patterns.  If we do not saturate ourselves with the wisdom of God, the ideas of the world will begin to gain a foothold.  If we are not careful the spores of their foolishness will find a comfort zone in our hearts.  When I was in school we had to take showers after our P.E. class.  During that entire time I had trouble with athlete’s foot.  When I got past that stage of life, it cleared up.  Why?  Because I was not longer constantly exposing myself to the fungus that caused the problem.

How can we avoid the world we live in?  You can’t.  But you can create an inner condition that takes care of the problem.  Laboratories that want to avoid contamination from outside air maintain a slightly higher air pressure inside so that if there is a leak it will be out, not in.  We do that by keeping our contact with the living God alive and well.  We seek the active involvement of the Holy Spirit.  He fills and encourages us so that the pressure outside is kept at bay.