Proverbs 5:21
For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He watches all his paths.
There has never existed a sin that was successfully committed in the secrecy of ones own heart. Neither has any sin ever been so innocent that its consequences failed to reach beyond the original sinner and into the lives of those both near and far. From the beginning of history until now there has been no offense from the greatest to the least that escaped the attention of God the Father. I find it no coincidence that this point is so strongly emphasized at the end of a chapter dedicated to the importance of sexual purity, possibly our greatest struggle in the secrecy of the mind.
How easily we give in to the temptations so generously offered to us within the privacy of our own hearts. Like the master magician, Satan has flawlessly developed his favorite act into the grandest of illusions. With unparalleled stealth he slithers into our innermost thoughts and vanishes before we ever know he is there, leaving behind nothing more than the lure of innocent pleasure and a distant whisper breathing justifications and secrecy. “For the lips of an adulteress drip honey and smoother than oil is her speech” (Proverbs 5:3).
Without fail this season of pleasure will last for only a short time (Hebrews 11:25). Almost more quickly than you can open his gift the tempter has now become your greatest accuser, damning you for the weakness of your faith. “But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword” (Proverbs 5:4). This never ending cycle leads once again to the loneliness of guilt and shame. Like the author of Proverbs you wonder, “How I have hated instruction and my heart despised reproof! I have not listened to the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to instructors” (5:12, 13)!
I challenge you to heed the wisdom found within your Holy Scriptures. Remember that He who’s name is greater than any other watches over your every step. How foolish you are to believe that your own power of the mind could possibly withstand the fiery darts of temptation thrown at you by Satan. It is only upon a complete reliance on God that your temptations will cease to drip as if coated with honey. As I Corinthians 10:13 so beautifully puts it, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide a way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”
Your advisory the Devil is relentless in his pursuit of death and destruction. His temptations will continue to come until the day of the Lord’s return. Until then we must never forget that our God is forever watching every step we take. If this does not encourage you to rise up in His strength and power, I pray that you would become overwhelmingly frightful of a God who knows your every move.
Regardless of your response to temptation, never forget that you are not alone in what you do.