Enthusiasm + naiveness + youthfulness + inexperienced - wisdom - prudence = recipe for disaster! This week's thought is taken from the book of Proverbs. Proverbs was written to give "prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young" and to make wise people wiser! Acquiring wisdom and knowing how to recognize & avoid the pitfalls of folly is the pathway leading to health & success. And the beginning of wisdom, says the author to Proverbs, starts in humbly acknowledging our need to know God and be taught His ways. And as we grow in wisdom & understanding, we learn to avoid those things which put our lives at risk. This week's story is about a parable of a young man who hadn't learned the lessons that wisdom & understanding teaches and as a result, we read this regarding his fate

"All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life."
(Proverbs 722,23)

How, you ask, did this begin? The parable begins in 76 "At the window of my house I looked out through the lattice. I saw among the simple, I notice among the young men, a youth who lacked judgment." To lack judgment is to be naive, indiscreet, somewhat immature and, needing some grown up to do! This young man suddenly & unexpectedly found himself walking straight into a trap set by those more experienced & street wise than himself - people lacking in moral values! "He was going down the street near her corner (the red-light district), walking along in the direction of her house, at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in." Here I see a young person walking without a set purpose, meandering without a focus - just cruising but going nowhere in particular! "Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent." The traps vary in kind sexual, greed, promises of grandeur, etc. Obviously she knew what she wanted - her script had been played out many times before. She was on the look-out for young men who were unsuspecting, unaware that danger lurked just around the corner! Why could the young man not have seen the warning signs her very appearance should have alerted him! But more than just her appearance "she is loud and defiant, her feet never stay at home; now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks". Obviously, she has attitude - and lots of it! Why, or why, could he not see it! Spiritual blindness coupled with naiveté is a recipe for disaster. More warning signs "She took him of him and kissed him and with a brazen face she said 'I have fellowship offerings at home; today I fulfilled my vows. So I came out to meet you; I looked for you and have found you!'" I'm going to assume that she invited herself into his space another sure sign she knew very little about respecting each other's boundaries! Why, or why, could he not have realized how dangerous a situation he was now in - and, here's another principle that God wishes to teach us The longer we allow ourselves to remain in that danger zone, the more powerless we become and the more powerful evil becomes! God has one word to describe what our response needs to be when we find ourselves approaching danger FLEE! Don't stay around to be bitten!

(To Be Cont'd)