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 cause.” …But they lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush their own lives. (vv. 10-11,18)
Don’t ambush your own life!
Enticement to sin can come from many different sources. It can come from within, from your own sin nature, tempting you during those moments when you are inactive. Or it can come from the secular world we live in—from television or the Internet or magazines or books. Or it can come from people inviting us to join them in doing something we know is wrong. They might even promise “precious wealth” (v. 15).
When that enticement comes, our normal reaction is to consider our choice to sin or obey God, as if that action were the only issue. But what God wants you to see in this passage from Proverbs today is that there is more involved than just doing something wrong or not doing it. If you choose to do what you know offends God, you are seriously injuring your own spiritual life. You are ambushing yourself!
Don’t just think about whether you should or shouldn’t do that thing. Rather, consider how it will affect your walk with God down the road. Walking the wrong way “takes away…life” (v. 19). Walking with God gives life.
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