Enticed – Proverbs 1:10-19

Maybe like me you have done this.  You have wondered if you could get away with doing something wrong.  You’ve told yourself that it could happen.  But hopefully, like me, you have weighed the consequences of doing wrong and found them unacceptable.  That is what Solomon is trying to help his son do.

My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.

If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; we shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder; throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse”— my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths, for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.

For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird, but these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives.

Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors. (Proverbs 1:10-19, ESV)

I have seen recently the unmasking of several politicians and business magnates who were making money illicitly or taking advantage of people sexually.  They used their power to serve themselves instead of others.  They found the lure of “unjust gain” to be so powerful that they submitted to stealing and destroying the lives of others.  They did not literally shed anyone’s blood but their feet seemed to be in an all-out sprint to evil.

Something enticed them, if not another eager for illicit gain, then their own lusts.  They filled their houses with plunder to the detriment of the innocent.  As Solomon instructs and warns his son here he is likely drawing a caricature of sin’s enticement.  Most seducers are not going to blatantly say they are out for innocent blood.  When we sin we don’t want to think, normally, about who we are hurting.  But he is trying to help his son see the consequences of yielding to sin.

“Honor among thieves” is a theme we have seen contradicted over and over.  Here, the promise of a common “purse” from someone who is willing to steal and kill should be a huge red flag, but when we’re enticed to sin with others we form a bond that we hope is solid.  We want to believe we can get away with it.  But we are lying in wait for our own blood, setting an ambush for our own lives.  We have nightly TV shows about true crime and the people who thought they wouldn’t get caught.

Where is sin most clearly enticing you right now?  Can you unmask its foolishness before you end up in its quagmire?

Lord, show me the consequences of my doing wrong.  Help me to see that the price I would pay is exorbitant and not worth it.  Help me to see the blessings of doing right and save me from my own foolishness.