It's amazing how incredibly relevant this chapter is to our world today despite being written so long ago. Nearly three-thousand years ago, King Solomon stood at the window of his palace as the sky was darkening, looking down on the streets of Jerusalem. From his birds-eye view, he observed a young man wandering near the well-known street corner of a prostitute. There she stood, dressed to kill, lips dripping with promises of pleasure. Solomon could overhear her smooth words, her artful and brazen seduction, and he watched as the young fool followed her inside. Not much has changed in thousands of years except the delivery method. In Solomon’s day, we found temptation on a street corner; today, we find it online and at our fingertips at any hour of the day. What makes a temptation like this so attractive is the false promises the image speaks with their words and body language. In the scripture, the woman’s words play to this man’s idolatrous desire for escape, his sense of entitlement, his ego, his desire for intimacy, and his craving for what is forbidden and off-limits. This passage also gives us some wise advice for navigating this constant temptation in our lives. Here are 4 thoughts:

1. Think Soberly About the Consequences
Proverbs 7:27 tells us that her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death. It's not going to end well. Solomon here is playing with words: the man thinks he is going to her bed-chamber, but really it is a chamber leading to the grave. Solomon is using vivid language to describe the final consequences of lust. We could form a line of people many miles long who could give one testimony after another about how lust started small but led to more costly decisions, ones that affected their lives and families. If we are to keep our heads straight in the moment of temptation, one key is that we have to consider what we will lose if we start down the dark path of sexual sin. Even if it makes you happy at the start, it won't in the end.

2. Repent of Pursuing the Tempting Paths
Verse 25 tells us not to stray into her path. If you avoid the place of temptation, how much more likely will it be that you are able to remain pure and stand strong? Let’s be clear: it is not a sin to be tempted, but it is a sin to seek out temptation. Wisdom does not say, “How close can I get to the edge?" Wisdom is grounded in the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 9:10) and the very hatred of evil (Proverbs 8:13). If we want to be free from habitual sexual sin, we have to repent of our desire to flirt with sin. “Make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:14). If we are going to break free from the power of habitual lust, pornography, or sexual addiction, we must repent of treating lightly something God despises. We must close all on-ramps to pornography, knowing that deliberately using the on-ramp, even if you don’t see porn, is itself sinful. What this means is that you may need to invest in an internet filter, go back to using an "un-smart" flip phone, or get rid of the TV in your bedroom. If you eliminate the path to sin, you may be able to eliminate the habitual nature of sin itself.

3. Pay Attention to your Heart.
The heart walks down the path of temptation long before the feet do. The “heart” is mentioned over 70 times in the book of Proverbs. It is a word that refers to the seat of our appetites, our knowledge, emotions, anxieties, joys, furies, grudges, passions, plans, motives, inclinations, and choices. The heart is our whole inner person. Above all else, we should guard our inner life, because it is the wellspring of all we say and do (Proverbs 4:23). What does it mean to guard your heart? For starters, it simply means to be sober and aware, training our minds to recognize when the lures of lust start pulling at us. The sooner we notice, the easier it is to turn the ship around and flee from evil. Second, it means deliberately cultivating virtues in our hearts that run contrary to the allure of porn. Instead of seeking porn as a refuge, make God your refuge (Psalm 91:2). Instead of looking to the quick fix of lust, cultivate a deep thirst for Living Water (Jeremiah 2:13). Instead of the illusory respect offered by pixels on the screen, seek the glory that comes from the only God (John 5:44). Instead of the safe yet false intimacy of solo sex, cultivate genuine intimacy with God and others, knowing God uses every relationship in our lives—even our risky ones—to conform us to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). Don't just try to give up sin, look to replace it with more of God. It is only by putting off self and being clothed in Christ that we could ever hope to break free from the shackles of sin.

4. Walk with the Wise.
Verse 1 and 24 tell us, "My son, keep my words…O sons, listen to me." The book of Proverbs is an address from father to son. The words, “My son” add a personal touch to the whole book. Proverbs is not just a classroom textbook; It is an extension of Solomon himself to those he loves. Solomon writes this way because he knows wisdom isn’t merely taught, It’s caught and learned through watching and listening. Proverbs 13:20 says, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise.” God’s path to maturity in the Christian life is the path of discipleship. In Proverbs 20:5 Solomon begins saying, “The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water…” Many times you have no idea what your real motives are, what is lurking deep within you. Our hearts are like deep water. We cannot see to the bottom. But Solomon finishes the proverb, “…but a man of understanding will draw it out.” Find “men and women of understanding” to guide you—wise friends and mentors who can walk alongside you and help you see what you are unable or unwilling to see about yourself. Find those who can probe beneath the surface, those who are learning how to apply the gospel to your specific weaknesses, men and women who can’t be fooled by your pretenses and love you in spite of them. In our experience of working with men (and women) ensnared by pornography, too few of them have the echo of a fatherly (or Motherly) voice in their minds, a voice that imparts to them strength not their own. To the sexually enslaved, this is the kind of relationship we need: someone who is willing to say to us, “Follow me as I follow Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).