DRINK WATER FROM YOUR OWN CISTERN

Proverbs 5:1-23 / Keywords 5:15

Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well.

Warning Against Adultery

5:1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom,

    turn your ear to my words of insight,

2 that you may maintain discretion

    and your lips may preserve knowledge.

3 For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey,

    and her speech is smoother than oil;

4 but in the end she is bitter as gall,

    sharp as a double-edged sword.

5 Her feet go down to death;

    her steps lead straight to the grave.

6 She gives no thought to the way of life;

    her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.

7 Now then, my sons, listen to me;

    do not turn aside from what I say.

8 Keep to a path far from her,

    do not go near the door of her house,

9 lest you lose your honor to others

    and your dignity[a] to one who is cruel,

10 lest strangers feast on your wealth

    and your toil enrich the house of another.

11 At the end of your life you will groan,

    when your flesh and body are spent.

12 You will say, “How I hated discipline!

    How my heart spurned correction!

13 I would not obey my teachers

    or turn my ear to my instructors.

14 And I was soon in serious trouble

    in the assembly of God’s people.”

15 Drink water from your own cistern,

    running water from your own well.

16 Should your springs overflow in the streets,

    your streams of water in the public squares?

17 Let them be yours alone,

    never to be shared with strangers.

18 May your fountain be blessed,

    and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.

19 A loving doe, a graceful deer—

    may her breasts satisfy you always,

    may you ever be intoxicated with her love.

20 Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife?

    Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?

21 For your ways are in full view of the Lord,

    and he examines all your paths.

22 The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them;

    the cords of their sins hold them fast.

23 For lack of discipline they will die,

    led astray by their own great folly.

Footnotes

a. Proverbs 5:9 Or years

 

1. Proverbs 5 strongly warns against sexual immorality.

 

2. First, we must use discretion in our speech and guard our lips. The path to sexual immorality begins with who we associate with and choose to talk to. By opening this door, we make ourselves susceptible to smooth talk or a line that hooks us into an immoral relationship. Next, we are trapped by where we go and with whom. We would not fall into immorality if we did not go alone somewhere with the opposite sex. (This includes being alone with a digital device for sexual pleasure.) After committing sexual immorality, what is the result? Tragically, lives are ruined (9-14). Immorality makes us lose everything: our strength, spirit, power, wealth, and reputation.

 

3. Second, we must reserve sex for marriage. The command, “Drink water from your own cistern,” is a metaphor meaning that sex was made for marriage. There is an intoxicating joy in marital sex. Complete intimacy with your marriage partner brings real love and delight. It is a fountain of blessing to us. To achieve marital purity, we must fear God who sees all our ways and be on guard against the snares of folly and cords of sin.

 

Prayer Father, thank you for your strong warning against sexual immorality. Please help me to have discretion and guard my ways before you.

One Word Let your fountain be blessed (18)