I’ll use Psalms 8:1 and 31:1-4 for Temple worship today.
My Shepherd met me in His green pastures and laid me down in Proverbs 2 this morning. Verses 10-11 stirred my thoughts:
Proverbs 2:10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
Proverbs 2:11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
Wisdom gives discretion and understanding that delivers from two predators: the evil man and the strange woman (Proverbs 2:12a, 16a). These stalkers lure us from the “way of good men” and from “the paths of the righteous” (2:20), which, when we follow, preserves us in the “land” He has provided, safe from the end of the wicked who “shall be cut off from the earth … and rooted out of it” (2:21-22).
The “evil man”: One who speaks froward things and so their ways are crooked, and their paths froward (2:12, 15). To be froward is to be perverse, to snare others by fraud. Their paths lead into darkness. They take pleasure in such deceitful devices and admire with pleasure the craftiness of wicked men.
Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh” (Matthew 12:24). He said, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:45). An ear trained by much use of the Scriptures can discern from the evil man’s words insight into the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12; 5:13-14). By this, you may save yourself from their snares.
The “strange woman”: A woman who uses flattery to lure vain men into her power. The word “stranger” commonly refers to a foreigner. This word for “stranger” refers to foreigners. However, it is also used to speak of anything that is not, as the Jews would say, kosher, anything outside of the traditions and manners of the Jewish people. In other words, this word can be used to identify a Jewish woman who has forsaken the guide of her youth and forgotten the covenant of her God (Proverbs 2:17). We are warned that her house inclines toward death, and her paths lead to the dead. We are further warned that “none that go unto her return again, neither take they hold on the paths of life.”
Jesus warned that to look on a woman with lust is to commit adultery in the heart: “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:28).
Along the still waters, I pondered the word deliver. It’s interesting because this word is used to speak of being delivered to and from. Foolishness delivers us to the power of the “evil man” and the “strange woman.” Wisdom delivers us from these predators.
There is a broader application of this to the issue of heresy (false teaching).
The Whore of Revelation 17 is a powerful seductress.
She is identified as a woman representing a religious system that is drunk on the blood of martyrs (Revelation 17:1-6).
This religious system is identified with the city of Rome (Revelation 17:18 — “And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.”). Rome and the Roman Catholic Church are inseparable: say “Rome” and the Vatican comes immediately to mind. These are identical. The Whore, literally, “is that great city.” (At the time Revelation was written, only the city of Rome could be said to reign over the kings of the earth.) The most grievous of her many heresies is the doctrine of the Nicolaitans (Revelation 2:6). This doctrine puts men in the place of Christ over the faith of Christ’s disciples. She seduces Christ’s servants to combine pagan practices in His worship, thereby to commit fornication and to eat foods sacrificed to idols (Revelation 2:20).
Many of His servants are seduced by this Whore today.
In the valley, shadowed by His Cross, I knelt to pray for His Spirit to reprove the conscience of the many deceived by her seduction (see 1 Timothy 4:1-4). I’m trying to alert all within the influence of my voice to this danger.
Jesus spoke: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Nothing will do more to protect any disciple of Christ from the seduction of evil spirits teaching doctrines of devils. Nothing is more essential to protecting His servants from the “evil man” and the “strange woman.”
At the table, He anointed my head with His oil and filled my cup with His grace. Goodness and mercy followed us into the harvest.
Praying for revival! 🙏
Going live asap:
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