It’s no doubt that Hotel California, by the rock band Eagles, is a great but haunting song with a firm message of once you check in “you can never leave”. It sings of a major warning and it’s a reminiscent warning of a too easy welcoming place that’s too easy to go there… Remember the warning and DON’T even check in. That’s a take home message in the Bible too, wide is the path of destruction…

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

Warning Warning Warning- of wide open gates of disaster is advice you should heed… That’s how Proverbs 5 and 6 read… WARNING WARNING WARNING INDEED… Of course the whole book of Proverbs speaks of gaining wisdom, but as the writer spoke in the previous Proverbs, these warnings might be considered retro-wisdom of “Don’t do what I did”, wisdom sometimes a great cost, so try to learn from my mistakes. This is applicable to any hole you dig yourself into. And if you get caught in this wideness of destruction, yes pray God to release you, but also work work work to get out. “Consider the ant” – a reminder that the ant works constantly – and doesn’t require a boss or king to motivate it – consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

Yes, the warnings in these proverbs (in addition to the ones for hanging out with the bad crowd, which will drain your money time energy), are clear in pertaining to ANYTHING that can pull you away from the straight and narrow life that GOD calls you to: “At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent. You will say, ‘How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction! I would not obey my teachers or turn my ear to my instructors. And I was soon in serious trouble in the assembly of God’s people.'”

The Proverbs 5 and 6 also speak of a bad crowd which may not see fault in itself, led astray by their own folly. We may not be doing all the proverb 5 and 6 activities, but even we can see (or not) when our own pride blinds us, when our self-indulgence fails us, when our sleeping on the job robs us of life… A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest – and poverty will come on you like a thief.

Surely we can head these warnings by the wise writer – we can embrace our wisdom and ask for apologies…  Even Jesus said no sin has overtaken that is uncommon. Even Jesus said God will provide a way out of temptations… 

Well, we can checkout but never leave? Like Hotel California? NOT TRUE, because God wants to be our WAY out – yes our bags of life baggage have been unpacked, then thrown away when in repentance we find our Savior’s Rest and ask Him for the keys of forgiveness… Then and now, the next stop on our travels is anywhere we can continue to depend upon His lead… 

You can checkout anytime you like, if you take our Savior’s lead.

Thank You Jesus for un-skipping our brokenness record…

Amen

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Proverbs 5 NIV

Warning Against Adultery

My son, pay attention to my wisdom, turn your ear to my words of insight, that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge. For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave. She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.

Now then, my sons, listen to me; do not turn aside from what I say. Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house, lest you lose your honor to others and your dignity to one who is cruel, lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich the house of another. At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent. You will say, “How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction! I would not obey my teachers or turn my ear to my instructors. And I was soon in serious trouble in the assembly of God’s people.”

Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer – may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love. Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife? Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?

For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths.

The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast. For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly.

Proverbs 6

Warnings Against Folly

My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth. So do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go – to the point of exhaustion – and give your neighbor no rest! Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!  It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest -and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

A troublemaker and a villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth, who winks maliciously with his eye, signals with his feet and motions with his fingers, who plots evil with deceit in his heart – he always stirs up conflict. Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant; he will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.

There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

Warning Against Adultery

My son, keep your father’s command and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. Bind them always on your heart; fasten them around your neck. When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. For this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and correction and instruction are the way to life, keeping you from your neighbor’s wife, from the smooth talk of a wayward woman. Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread, but another man’s wife preys on your very life. Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.

People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving. Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house. But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself. Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away. For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge. He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.

Proverbs 7 also speaks of staying away from the wide path of destruction. AVOID IT!!!