Essential Warnings from the Two Inner Voices

Warnings. This portion in Proverbs has two.

Proverbs 2:12–19

Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,
    from men whose words are perverse, who have left the straight paths
    to walk in dark ways, who delight in doing wrong
    and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, whose paths are crooked
    and who are devious in their ways.

Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,
    from the wayward woman with her seductive words, who has left the partner of her youth
    And ignored the covenant she made before God.

 Surely her house leads down to death
    and her paths to the spirits of the dead.
None who go to her return
    or attain the paths of life.

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This is the longest stretch in this chapter. 

Solomon names two specific dangers wisdom will save you from. First, men whose words are twisted, who love doing wrong, and who walk in dark, crooked ways.

Second, a woman whose words are smooth, who has forsaken faithfulness, and who leads toward death.

It’s easy to read this as old news, but dangers hide in familiar ideas. It doesn’t apply to us. But it does. It isn’t old news. Every generation has its own version of speech that sounds clever but leads somewhere dark.

Our words expose us. Clever speech is nothing new. With the elections coming up, it’s even more true. There’s an abundance of “smooth” speech from politicians. They can make the worst ideas sound good.

What do both dangers have in common?

Smoothness. Verse 16 calls it out directly: flattering, smooth words. Deception rarely announces itself. It sounds reasonable. It even sounds good. That’s exactly what makes it dangerous.

Verse 18 gives us the bottom line, and it’s sobering. Her house sinks down to death. Her paths lead to the departed. Solomon isn’t being dramatic for effect. He’s being honest about where certain roads actually end, even when the entrance looks perfectly nice.

Why do we think an open door always has God at its source?

It doesn’t.

Satan opens doors as well. He can be very convincing. That’s his forte. To convince us that something that looks so good can’t be bad. Right? Many a broken marriage is the result of such faulty thinking. Fortunes have been lost because of this thinking as well.

Always check who opened the door. Don’t just walk in.

Wisdom’s job isn’t to scare you. It’s to help you see the whole road, not just the first few steps.

Reflect: Is there a voice in your life right now — a person, a habit, a message — that sounds good but doesn’t sit right in your spirit?

Pray: Lord, give me discernment for the voices around me. Help me spot smooth words before I’m too far down the road to turn back. Keep me anchored to what’s true. Amen.