Proverbs 22:13 ¶ The slothful man saith, There is a lion
without, I shall be slain in the streets.
Solomon, with the understanding the Holy Spirit
has given him, had a lot to say about the slothful man. Let’s review.
Proverbs 12:24 The hand of the diligent shall
bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.
Proverbs 12:27 The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: but
the substance of a diligent man is precious.
Proverbs 15:19 The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the
way of the righteous is made plain.
Proverbs 18:9 He also that is slothful in his
work is brother to him that is a great waster.
Proverbs 19:24 A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom, and will not so
much as bring it to his mouth again.
Proverbs 21:25 The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to
labour.
The slothful person is extremely lazy, so much
so that he or she will not help themselves. Christians are told not to be
slothful in business.
Romans 12:11 Not slothful in business;
fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
Christ makes it clear you can be slothful in
your service to Him by hiding the abilities you’ve been given and not using
them for His glory and honor in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25.
This Proverb points out how ludicrous our
excuses can be. For the Chistian’s application of this I think you could point
out all the reasons we come up with not to worship, not to unite with a church
body of believers regularly (even if in our own home with two or three), not to
read the Bible, not to pray, and not to witness. Plus, it’s usually easier to
sin than to do right because your flesh wants to sin. It doesn’t want to do
right. Getting revenge, lying, improper sexual thoughts, anger, are all easier
for the natural man and require little effort because that’s the way we are
naturally.
The generation of Hebrews that left Egypt did not get into
the Promised Land that God had prepared for them because they stated that the
inhabitants of that land were too strong for them. And yet, God had shown them
His awesome power in defeating the army of Pharaoh and in sustaining them in
the wilderness. If their excuse for not obeying God wasn’t valid then why do
you think yours are? God has already defeated the lion in the street, Satan.
So, what are you waiting for?
Proverbs 22:14 ¶ The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he
that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.
Let’s review what strange and stranger is before
we dig into this Proverb. Strange, in the Bible, doesn’t mean weird. It means
alien to Israel, not sharing in the Hebrew culture or believing in the Hebrew
God exclusively as the God of all.
Exodus 2:22 And she bare him a son, and he
called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.
Exodus 18:3 And her two sons; of which the name of the one was Gershom; for he
said, I have been an alien in a strange land:
Exodus 12:19 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for
whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from
the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.
Leviticus 16:29 And this shall be a statute
for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye
shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own
country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:
The Canaanite women that the Israelites
permitted to live after they invaded the land given to them by God and the
foreign women around them were a danger to their walk with God.
1Kings 11:1 But king Solomon loved many
strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites,
Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites;…4 For it came to pass, when
Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his
heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his
father.
Let this be a lesson to parents. When
you send your son off to college in a faraway place he is likely as not to find
him a wife of the people there and not return home to live. I’ve seen it in
many families and in my own. Wives have a tremendous influence over where the
family nest is made. My grandparents fully expected my father to return from
the Air Force and marry the girl they liked back home. It was not to be.
The strange women that lived among the Hebrews corrupted the
Israelites with their pagan gods just as they did to the wisest human king who
ever lived, Solomon. Even wisdom was no match against feminine beauty and
charm.
The mouth of strange women spoke abominations:
encouraging worship of other gods and alien ways to worship God of which He did
not approve. The pervasive influence of these strange women goes all the way
through the figure of the woman mixing in leaven, a type of pollution and false
doctrine (see Exodus 12:15 and Matthew 16:5-12) , into three measures of meal;
Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and the so called Orthodox Church in Matthew
13:33 and Luke 13:21.This doctrine carries all the way to Mystery Babylon, the
woman of Revelation 17 who may be represented by Mary, the goddess of Rome, who
is in reality Ishtar, Diana, Venus, and Isis in Christian disguise.
But what about in your day to day life? Who are these strange
women that those who are God’s enemies will be destroyed by? Christians watch
television, movies, and listen to popular rock and country music. The sirens on
the stage and screen, evil women speaking great abominations encouraging you to
self-destruct, even being deceived themselves as their lives’ end up like a
Janis Joplin or an Amy Winehouse or a Marilyn Monroe, have a great influence on
the weak, carnal Christian who has enjoyed the benefit of the gift of eternal
life and yet holds no regard for God’s standards or doctrines.
Every day around the nation, Christians choose
to hear these strange women speaking soothing, fleshy, and false doctrines,
their mouths a great pit of despair and anguish which the Christian who is not
walking with God falls into, taken captive by Satan at his will (2 Timothy
2:26). Christians will hear Satan speaking through them, appeasing their flesh,
exciting their baser nature, turning the beauty of things like sexual union
that God gave to man and wife into vile, disease-ridden torture of blind obsessions
and exploitation. These same Christians do not have the time to read or hear
God speak to them through His word but they do have time for American Idol on
television or their favorite nearly naked vixen singing songs of debauchery and
broken heartedness on the radio.
Christian, every time you hear a song by Britney
Spears or see a movie with Angelina Jolie you are falling slowly but surely
into that pit mentioned in this Proverb. These strange women speak doctrines
that are against this Bible and against the God of this Bible. With great
amounts of money and fame they have the “bully pulpit” and can preach their
false doctrines to a world that is hungry for Jesus Christ but thinks all they
really need is a racy music video by Christina Aguilera. Everything is dragged
through the dirt by these sirens. Every Bible doctrine from not getting revenge
to not defrauding your brothers and sisters and even to a disdain and contempt
for Christ Himself is preached non-step, 24/7 around the world from radios, movies,
and TV by these people and their handlers. And you say, it’s all good. It’s
just music. There’s nothing wrong with it.
Certainly, a literal application of this verse
can only be made to ancient Israel. God does not abhor any Christian and those
who are going to Hell by virtue of their rejection of Christ are doomed anyway
and don’t need any additional pushing into the pit. But, to apply this
spiritually to you, to make this part of your daily life just look around at
the world of religion and false female teachers like Joyce Meyer, a swine of
Matthew 7:6 and a sow of 2 Peter 2, a false female teacher, the godless and
wicked of the music and entertainment world, like Madonna, or the political
world, all these worlds of which have their god of Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4).
Don’t fall into the pit of their open mouths, Christian. Don’t even hear their
siren cry. Homer’s Odysseus had to contend with three bird-women named Sirens
whose music and voices lured sailors to their deaths. The danger is no less
here than in Greek mythology.
Be discerning, Christian. Let God’s word, not
their false doctrines, permeate your mind, and stay away from the deep pit of
their mouths lest your witness and testimony for Christ be destroyed.
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