Joel M Bradshaw

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

1. The context in this chapter is clearly sexual sin. The married man was enticed to commit adultery and have sex with a woman not his wife. Adultery clearly is sinful and wrong and this chapter doesn’t disagree. But Proverbs 5 does tie wisdom to DISCIPLINE.
2. 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. We all need discipline. So what does it look like?
3. 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.
4. Joy comes from God (Galatians 5:22) and is a response to God and in God (Philippians 4:4). Rejoice in what you have and in the situation you have been led to.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. DISCIPLINE STOPS LOOKING AROUND. Other people are not living your life. You will one day answer to God (Hebrews 4:13). When we look around, we plant heart seeds of jealousy, envy, discontent, and bitterness.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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 this every day. Discipline never stops putting in the work.–JMB