“Why, my son, would you lose yourself with a forbidden woman or embrace a wayward woman? For a man’s ways are before the Lord’s eyes, and he considers all his paths. A wicked man’s iniquities will trap him; he will become tangled in the ropes of his own sin. He will die because there is no discipline, and be lost because of his great stupidity.” (Proverbs‬ ‭5‬:‭20‬-‭23‬ ‭CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

Have you ever done something that seemed like a good idea at the time only to run into a wall later? Had you really stopped to think about it, you probably wouldn’t have done it, but you wanted it. And so, instead of listening to the friend or two who warned you against it, you convinced yourself that you were right or even wise—at least justified—in doing whatever it was. Sin is a trap, but it’s one we often fall into ourselves because of a pattern of bad decision making. This applies to all sorts of situations, but especially times of sexual sin. Let’s talk about it.

Let’s start with Solomon’s question both generally and specifically. First the latter. “Why, my son, would you lose yourself with a forbidden woman or embrace a wayward woman?” Why would you topple into sexual sin of some kind? Why indeed? What are all the reasons someone might do something so manifestly self-destructive? Well, how long do you have? Our list of self-justifications here is long and creating. We can pretty much sell ourselves on anything that we want to do. Sometimes it’s not even very hard because we just plain want whatever it is and we don’t much care about any kind of justification.

I was tired. I deserved it. She hasn’t been willing for years…months…weeks. He hasn’t paid me any attention in forever. We were in love. It wasn’t going to hurt anybody. It was just that one time. Nobody was going to know. She did it to me. I have needs and he’s not meeting them. I wasn’t planning on it…it just happened. It’s a habit that I just haven’t broken yet. I’m really the victim here. Everybody else is doing the same thing. On and on and on our list can go.

And a list like this doesn’t just apply to sexual sin. We can use all of these same justifications and more to explain away our involvement in pretty much any and every other kind of sin. Why? Because we bought into the lie the enemy planted in our hearts and minds. We thought not even God would know or care. Or perhaps we went one step beyond that and flat out rejected His authority in a willful act of rebellion. Well, I guess all rebellion is willful, but some of it is spiteful. We do that too. I’ll show God. Sure you will.

You’ve perhaps heard the phrase, “Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.” When we give into sin – whether sexual sin or any other kind – that’s exactly what we are doing. “For a man’s ways are before the Lord’s eyes, and he considers all his paths.” Whatever it is you are doing, God sees that. God knows that. You can’t hide from Him.

Remember the words of Psalm 139. “Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I fly on the wings of the dawn and settle down on the western horizon, even there your hand will lead me; your right hand will hold on to me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light around me will be night’ – even the darkness is not dark to you. The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to you.”

Not only can you not hide whatever it is you are considering doing from God, if your actions involve deviating from His righteousness, rejecting His goodness, and walking a path of sin, there will eventually be consequences for those actions. There will be consequences, and you won’t like them. And here’s the thing: God doesn’t really even have to do anything. Sin brings its own consequences. It is a trap. All He has to do is sit back and wait for those to come to bear, and usually that will be enough to help us see the error of our ways. That will be enough to drive us to the point of repentance.

“A wicked man’s iniquities will trap him; he will become tangled in the ropes of his own sin. He will die because there is no discipline, and be lost because of his great stupidity.” At the end of the day, sin is stupid. For all of our attempts at justification, it’s just stupid. We can sugarcoat that truth in all sorts of ways that make it feel more palatable and easy going down, but that’s nothing more than sugar to make the medicine go down. And this isn’t just me being crass to make the point. These are Solomon’s words. Don’t “be lost because of [your] great stupidity.”

What Solomon offers here is a warning absent any good news. Fortunately, there is some good news. The good news is that God loves stupid sinners. The grace Jesus won on the cross is extended even to those who are set to “die because there is no discipline.” If you are on the path of stupidity, that doesn’t have to be your end. All you have to do is stop walking in that direction, acknowledge you’ve been walking in the wrong direction, turn around and start walking in the other direction with a spirit of repentance, and the forgiveness of Christ will be there to embrace. Better than that, your heavenly Father will be racing to meet you on the road just like the father of the prodigal son.

If you have been stuck on stupid, your fate is not sealed. In Christ it can be turned entirely around in the other direction. In fact, seeking and saving the lost is exactly why He came. You are not too far gone. There is hope aplenty. It is ready and waiting for you. But don’t wait, because the offer won’t last forever. There will eventually be an end, and at that point all sales will be final. Receive the grace of Christ and the life that is truly life today.