Proverbs 7:10 And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart
Do good people do bad things? I hope so because I want to think of myself as a good person, but I have done some bad things. That begs the question, “How good am I really?” I think the question really is, “How bad must one be before one does bad things?” In Proverbs 6:12 you have the story of a truly bad and naughty person. It says, “A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth.” Verse 13 says, “He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers.” A good liar and crank doesn’t need words in order to express himself. He uses facial expressions of scorn and the little signals of the hands.
Verse 14 continues, “Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord. Therefore his calamity will come suddenly.” Then Proverbs 6:16 says, “These six things doth the LORD hate,” and it describes the very things a naughty person has, “a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood…he that soweth discord among brethren.” These things are abominable to God. Now, this is a truly bad person.
Another bad person in is Proverbs 7:10. Talking about the strange woman, it says, “And, behold, there met him the woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.” So, she is bad inside and out. It continues, “She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house.” It goes on to talk about how she seduces this young man. She is clearly a bad person. The description you have of her is almost the exact opposite of the woman who personifies wisdom.
Then it talks about the simple son, the naïve son, who ends up being immoral with this wicked woman. So, is the simple son a bad person? No, he is a good person, right? Is the wicked woman a wicked person? Well, obviously that is true. Well, what difference does it make? They are both doing the same thing. Can you tell the difference?
To be sure, rules won’t help the naughty person or the wicked woman because the problem is beyond what they are doing; it is their heart. Having said that, a good heart is not enough to keep you from destruction. Here is a wicked woman who does wicked things. Here is a young man who is not wicked, but he does wicked things. So, what is the deal? The deal is that a good heart, whatever that is, is not enough to keep you from destruction. You need guidelines and parents for that.
Proverbs 7 says, “My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. Keep my commandments, and live…that they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.” Notice what the father basically says to the son, “Keep my words that they can keep you.” In other words, the rules you keep will keep you. The commands you keep will keep you. The words you keep will keep you. Attitude is a force multiplier whether it is an attitude of submission or an attitude of rebellion.
Think of Samson and his destruction. He was not destroyed by a woman, although we all think that was his problem. Samson was destroyed by an attitude of rebellion, of stubbornness against his parents. When his parents expressed concern about the woman he was dealing with, he said, “Get her for me for she pleases me.” In other words, “I don’t care what you say, Dad and Mom. I like her; get her for me.” His problem wasn’t fundamentally women; it was his attitude toward the authorities in his life.
Friends, we are all open-minded and close-minded. The question is, “To what are you open and to what are you closed?” What you are open to will tell you what you are closed to and vice versa. Proverbs 7:7 says, “And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding.” Simplemeans naïve, open-minded. I want to be curious and open to the truth, but sometimes we say, “I’m open-minded,” but what we mean is that we are naïve. You think about a freshman at a liberal college who has tried marijuana and alcohol and everything. He is not sheltered. Oh, really? Is he ready for life? Can he put up with people who don’t agree with him? Is he going to melt in the midmorning sun? We are all open to things, and that determines what we are closed to. We are all closed to things, and that determines what we are open to.
So, the Bible is saying here that the words you keep will keep you. If you are a parent, that means you need to be proactive. Teachers, parents, and authorities need to be lovingly proactive. My son may have a good heart, but that is not enough. He needs a dad and mom to give him guidance. You can have a good heart and still get hit by a car; don’t play in the road. That is a parent giving guidance to a child.
What if you are receiving authority? Even parents receive authority. All of us are in the chain of command. If that is the case, be receptive. It is easy to say, “I’ve got a good heart so I don’t need to do what my authorities say because I know what’s right.” Does a simple son know that he is naïve? How could he? That is his very problem. He can’t know what it is that he doesn’t know because he doesn’t know. A naïve person probably doesn’t know they are naïve.
So, I need to have a heart of submission and humility, an open heart to the truth, and a closed mind to that which would pull me from the path of wisdom and righteousness. The words you keep will keep you; the guidance you keep will keep you. Attitude is a force multiplier whether it be in submission or rebellion.