1343. Wisdom's Warnings

Wisdom's Warnings

"Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men" (Pro_4:14).

We turn once more to the Book of Proverbs. It is full of plain and pungent warnings to the youth concerning the wayward path. Everywhere wisdom, with outstretched hands, is calling to the young man to hear its voice.

1. The first call in Pro_1:10 : "My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not." The wicked are described as lying in wait for blood; they are lurking privily for the innocent, without cause; they are saying to the young man, "We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil." Wisdom cries: "My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: for their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood."

2. The second call is found in Pro_4:14-15 : "Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away." The youth is urged to shun wicked men, for they eat the bread of lawlessness and drink the wine of violence. To the youth, wisdom says: "Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. * * Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil."

3. The third call to the young man is to guard him from the lips of the strange woman. Wisdom says: "Her mouth is smoother than oil: but her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell." Wisdom calls to the young man and says: "Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house."

Oh, that the youth of the land would hear the voice of wisdom and heed her call! Alas, many go madly on, hastening down the road to death!

By and by wisdom will cry without and utter her voice in the streets and say; "Because I have called, and ye have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind" (Pro_1:24-26).

The youth who sows his wild oats must reap them; he who sows to the wind, will reap the whirlwind–"the wages of sin is death."

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR