“It will rescue you from a forbidden woman, from a wayward woman with her flattering talk, who abandons the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; for her house sinks down to death and her ways to the land of the departed spirits. None return who go to her; none reach the paths of life. So follow the way of the good, and keep to the paths of the righteous.” (Proverbs 2:16-20 CSB – Read the chapter)

The other day, I found myself in a conversation with one of my boys about Tiger Woods. He had brought up the fact that Woods had been arrested recently and was telling me all the details of the story. I noted that Woods’ story is a sad one. Not all that long ago he had it all: he was the best and most popular golfer in the world, he was fabulously wealthy, he had a literal supermodel for a wife, he had two beautiful kids. What more could anyone want? And now, while he may still have lots of money, the rest is gone for good. Why? Because he didn’t have wisdom and so he stumbled down this particular path that wisdom helps us avoid.

Over the course of Proverbs 2, we have been talking about the purpose of wisdom rather than merely its definition, and the results of wisdom. The first result was that we will gain an understanding of what is the right path through life. We will gain an understanding of righteousness and justice and integrity along with a desire to pursue those instead of their alternatives that have only have sewn chaos and frustration and pain in the world where they have been unleashed.

The next couple of results a pursuit of wisdom will bring to our lives, the second of which we are talking about today, have been and are focused on the kinds of wrong paths that our growing understanding of what is the right path will help us avoid. Yesterday this was the path of evil. Wisdom will help us recognize when a particular path is headed off in a direction other than God’s kingdom. It will make us more aware of folks who are on that path, prompting us to stay away from them, protecting us from getting swept up in the consequences that will be coming to their lives.

This last result is that wisdom will keep us off of the path of sexual immorality. This is something we will come back to more than once before we finish getting through this opening section of Proverbs. That’s because this is a big deal. Sexual sins are some of the worst there are. Part of the reason for this is that these kinds of sins often fly under the radar. The public shame associated with the worst of them drives those who commit them to keep them hidden to the extent they can help it. But that darkness just allows them to flourish all the more.

And let’s be clear here that while all of the language we are going to encounter when exploring what Solomon has to say about this consistently imagines the sexual temptation to only go one way, this is not an issue that only affects guys. Guys are particularly susceptible to it because of our wiring, but women can get caught up in sexual sin and be the aggressors in pursuit of sexual sin just as easily.

The trope of the alluring woman seeking to draw unsuspecting men into compromising situations is one that has been common across human history and so Solomon borrows on it here, but some of this is because of that very effort to hide this sin we talked about a second ago. Guys wanting to excuse themselves from accountability for their sins have long tried to make it the woman’s fault. He was just minding his own business and this morally repugnant woman came up and enticed him into his affair. Perhaps. Or maybe he did the looking first and is now trying to shift the blame to the woman who in most human cultures was powerless before the aggressions of more powerful men. So, yes, men, don’t get drawn it, but don’t go looking for it either.

It is absolutely and unavoidably true that there are purveyors of pornography who actively look to capture young eyeballs. There are just about enough anecdotes to carry the weight of evidence of people creating accounts on Instagram or TicTok, not trying to search for anything illicit, and suddenly finding their feeds rife with highly sexualized content. There are groomers who work day and night trying to find young people to draw into the human trafficking industry in one way or another. It is grotesque and abominable.

But it is also true that a bit of curiosity about sex has led more than one young person to actively seek out the snare that grabbed them tight and held them fast. It is also true that a lonely spouse – male or female – has actively sought out the attentions of someone more willing to give them than their current significant other. Simply put: this is a nasty, nasty issue that plays hard on every side.

Seeing through the potential cultural fog of the language Solomon uses, his point is sound either way. Wisdom “will rescue you from a forbidden woman, from a wayward woman with her flattering talk, who abandons the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God.” If you are in a position of considering an affair – especially with someone who is currently engaged in a relationship with someone else, this one thought should override all of your thinking: if they are willing to cheat with you, then they will be willing to cheat on you as well.

Leaning into wisdom will help you recognize the way that path ends. “For her house sinks down to death and her ways to the land of the departed spirits. None return who go to her; none reach the paths of life.” Solomon paints this like it is a life or death issue. Well, it is. Maybe not physically, but spiritually, relationtionally, and emotionally it certainly can be. Getting caught in a web of sexual sin that leads to some level of sexual addiction is a fight you will wind up fighting for the rest of your life. This is not something you want or need to learn by experience. This is something worth heeding the advice of others who have already fallen into this bitter well and avoiding it entirely so far as it depends on you.

“So follow the way of the good, and keep to the paths of the righteous.” It is better to avoid the path of sexual sin altogether. Don’t look toward this path. Don’t dabble in this path. Don’t keep with those who do. Stay on the path of righteousness. Do everything you can to guard your steps in this regard. Put in place whatever accountability measures you need. Involve other people in your efforts, especially other members of your church who can and will help (which assumes that you are connected to a church community for help and strength here). Shed as much light as you possibly can because this is one sin that most definitely dies in the light. So far as it depends on you, keep to the ways of God here. You will most certainly be glad that you did.