Encouragement to moral purity

Proverbs 5:15–23
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The Lord has made  provision for man’s happiness, not through immoral entanglements but through the blessings of married life. Marital love with one’s wife is pict­ured as enjoying one’s cistern or fountain. As a person would not get water from his neighbor’s cistern because he had his own (II Kings 18:31), so a man should have his physical needs met by his own wife, not someone else’s. In verse 20 the question is asked - “And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?"  In other words- Why would anyone want to drink from a water supply that is known to be poisoned?

The consequences of adultery  should be enough to motivate a person to avoid it (vv. 7-14). However we now find four additional reasons:

1. Adultery committed in secret is known by the Lord (v. 21).
2. God not only sees but examines mans’ conduct (v. 21).
3. Sin ties a person like ropes (v. 22).
4. Being undisciplined in one’s moral  life leads to death (v. 23).

Application

I must constantly remind myself of how wonderful the marriage relationship is as God ordained it  to be and how terrible sex is outside of marriage. I need to be praying and asking God to keep each member of my family clean and pure and reserved only for the one they marry.