Proverbs 7:6-27
I have discovered there are some things I am much better at resisting when they are nowhere near me. Put a plate of cookies in the kitchen and I can demonstrate remarkable self-control for several minutes. Put them beside my chair while I am watching football and suddenly I am staring at an empty plate wondering who ate all the cookies.
Proverbs 7 gives us a much more serious picture of the same principle. Solomon describes a young man who lacks good judgment. What is interesting is that his trouble does not begin when he gives in to temptation. It begins much earlier. “He was crossing the street near the house of an immoral woman, strolling down the path by her house” (Proverbs 7:8, NLT).
That phrase catches my attention. He was not simply minding his own business when temptation unexpectedly tackled him from behind. He was walking near her house. He put himself in a place where he knew temptation was waiting.
We sometimes do the same thing. We ask God to give us strength to resist temptation while continuing to walk directly past temptation’s house. We pray for self-control, but keep the app. We ask God to protect our marriage, but continue the private conversation. We ask Him to help us control our spending, but browse the website every night. We pray for freedom from something while keeping it conveniently within reach. Then we wonder why resisting it feels so difficult.
Sometimes the most spiritual thing we can do is change the route. That is not weakness. That is wisdom. Proverbs 7:25 says, “Don’t let your hearts stray away toward her. Don’t wander down her wayward path.” Notice the instruction is not simply to resist once you arrive. It is to stay away from the path that takes you there.
Maybe there is a path in your life you already know leads somewhere you do not want to go. A relationship. An app. A website. A conversation. A place. A habit you keep telling yourself you can handle.
Do not wait until you are standing at temptation’s front door to ask God for wisdom. Ask Him for the courage to choose another road. Sometimes victory over temptation begins long before the temptation arrives. It begins when, by God’s grace, we decide not to walk that way anymore.