Joel M Bradshaw

15Drink water from your own cistern,
flowing water from your own well.–Proverbs 5

My thoughts: Yes, yes, so the context in this chapter is clearly sexual sin. The married man enticed to commit adultery and have sex with a woman not his wife. Now some reading this chapter (especially women) might be tempted to check out and pass on by. Adultery clearly is sinful and wrong and the chapter doesn’t disagree. But Proverbs 5 does tie wisdom to DISCIPLINE.

And THIS is where everyone can be blessed. For we all face temptation in various ways. At the minimum, each of us faces the leading to follow our hearts and let our desires lead us around. So let’s all take one interpretative step back and see the issue for what it really is. A matter of the heart. For such sins begin in the heart. What does discipline look like regarding the heart? Four things this morning.

1. DISCIPLINE LEARNS TO REJOICE. The man in the proverb was told to rejoice in his wife rather than going to another woman. And joy may need to be learned. There is something secure and lasting about a response of joy. This perspective comes through discipline and is clearly a work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) and is to be the intended response grown in all situations (Philippians 4:4). Thus, the disciple learns to rejoice in all matters of trial in life (James 1:3). Rejoice in what you have and in the situation you have been led to. Joy is always a response towards God.
2. DISCIPLINE GROWS IN CONTENTMENT. Contentment tells God and what he has provided that it is enough. It actually communicates to God that he is enough. It is far too tempting to always be looking for something different or something more. Discipline grows with another direction. Looks to God instead of looking to the self. The self will never on its own be content. The selfish heart always seeks for more. Discipline denies the self and doesn’t follow the selfish leadings of the heart.
3. DISCIPLINE STOPS LOOKING AROUND. Enough already. You have two or three places you should look. Look “up” in the sense of gratitude and thanksgiving to how God has faithfully provided for you. Look outside of you in the sense of how can you be a blessing to others as you give glory to God. And look within and focus on how God has provided for you and your daily response that honors God. When we look around, we plant heart seeds of jealousy, envy, discontent, and bitterness.
4. DISCIPLINE SEEKS THE ONLY TRUE SATISFACTION. A lust is never satisfied. The thirst of selfishness is never quenched. So the seeking of these things will never pay out. Seek God and the things of God instead (Matthew 6:33). The man in the proverb was seeking something different and something ‘more’ than what he had. Not good. True satisfaction is found only with God and ultimately in God.

So time for a heart check. If you despise growing in discipline then you are not a disciple. It’s basically the same word. And if you claim to follow Jesus, then you are a disciple. This doesn’t have to be about sexual sin like in the chapter today. Each of us faces various temptations to be selfish. Drinking from your own cistern or well at its core is about satisfaction, contentment, and joy. Telling your thoughts and heart to stop looking around for the next, the newest, the other.

This is truly for me a hard-knocks kind of learning proverb. I have to work on those 1-4 every day. Discipline never stops putting in the work. Especially when it comes to matters of the heart. You affect your heart by disciplining your mind. You discipline your mind through self-talk. Learning to thank God and being satisfied with that self-talk is better than saying you deserve more or are entitled to the else. Enough already.—JMB