Memorizing the defensive plays

“For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil,”
-Proverbs 5:3

I am terrible at memorizing verses. (To which you may reply, “Paul, what in the world does this have to do with the adulterous woman of Proverbs 5? I mean, this is the verse that begins that section, and here you are talking about memory verses.” Stick with me a little on this, and hopefully it’ll become clear.)

So back to the original point – I am terrible at memorizing verses. I have a few memorized, probably more because I read and use them a lot, not because I sat down and tried to memorize them.

Memorizing wasn’t really a priority for me for a very long time until I noticed something – I found that those few verses I did have memorized kept coming up in my daily life.

When I would worry about some situation, my mind would race to Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” It would remind me that God was in control.

When I would get bogged down with legalism over a certain passage, I would sometimes think of John 5:39-40: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” It would remind me that the Bible is not about my own righteousness, but about Jesus.

“That’s great Paul,” you may be saying, “but have you forgotten about the adulterous woman here? That is, after all, what this passage is about.”

This verse does begin a longer passage about avoiding the adulterous woman, which Solomon uses as the personification of sexual sin. But I am talking about the Bible in general a little here because of that little “for” that starts this verse. That “for” tells us to look at what came before it, and there we find Solomon’s admonition for us to pay attention to the teaching here, listen carefully, and keep it always in mind.

This verse tells us why – because sin is very enticing.

See, when we know the teachings of God, the Spirit will bring them to mind when they are needed. When you are confronted with sexual temptation, for example, passages like this will come to mind, or 1 Corinthians 6:20: “for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

I can tell you from experience, it is very difficult to even think about sinning when you have your nose in the Bible, singing songs of praise to the Father, and praying for His guidance. We don’t always do this, of course. There are times when the call of sin is dripping with honey, and we succumb. There are times when we fall hard.

Religious people, when this happens, will either try to cover it up or become despondent in their guilt. They will beat themselves up or pretend it never happened. A far better response comes from knowing the Bible a little better, because 1 John 2:1 says, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

The understanding of our Lord is going to provide guidance on this narrow road, resistance in the face of temptation, and forgiveness in the midst of failure. It is the last aspect of the Word that excites me most, because I have failed to live up to God’s Holy standard in so many ways. I have lied, hated, lusted, boasted, been arrogant, and committed countless other sins. But by the Blood of Christ I am cleaned again and again. So instead of beating myself up or trying to cover up my sin, as though Jesus doesn’t know about it, I can praise Him and thank Him for paying the price for my failures.