Prepare
Opening Prayer
Thank God for his Word and ask him to bless us, seat us at his feet, and instruct us.
Read
Scripture Passage
13 A foolish woman is clamorous;
She is simple, and knows nothing.
14 For she sits at the door of her house,
On a seat by the highest places of the city,
15 To call to those who pass by,
Who go straight on their way:
16 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here”;
And as for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,
17 “Stolen water is sweet,
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
18 But he does not know that the dead are there,
That her guests are in the depths of hell.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Pr 9:13–18
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly issue similar invitations but lead to opposite ends: wisdom begins with fearing the Lord and gives life, while enticing, secret sin leads unsuspecting guests to death.
B — Best Verse
A Verse That Summarizes the Passage
Proverbs 9:18
Distilled from the devotional exposition; the speaker did not explicitly name a best verse.
he does not know that the dead are there that her guests are in the depths of sheol the grave
No explicit Best Verse choice is announced. Verse 18 is distilled because Bryan identifies it as the outcome of following folly and uses it to contrast sin's death with eternal life in Christ.
C — Called or Christ
C — Christ Connection
Flee sin and Lady Folly, receive the Word's rebuke, fear the Lord, and turn to Jesus Christ, the publicly displayed Bread of Life who gives abundant and eternal life.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
gonna go ahead and jump on over here see if everyone is connecting all right starting up good all right well good evening good evening good evening welcome to coffee and devotions even though i got tea tonight i hope that you had a great day it's so good to have you with us today this is where every day we get together we get into god's word and we grow in our love for the lord together and this year 2021 we'll make it through all the wisdom literature with the night we are in proverbs chapter 9 verses 13 through 18 when we'll go ahead and have a drink we'll pray and we'll get into god's word let's pray father we thank you so much for this day we thank you for your word father we pray that as we read your word you would bless us we pray god that we would sit at your feet and you would instruct us in jesus name amen all right here we go proverbs chapter nine who almost felt my team a foolish wisdom a foolish woman is clamorous she is simple and knows nothing for she sits at the door of her house on a seat by the highest places of the city to call to those who pass by who go straight on their way whoever is simple let him turn in here and as for him who lacks understanding she says to him stolen water is sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant but she does not know that the dead but he does not know that the dead are there that her guests are in the depths of sheol the grave well we need to ask ourselves hey what's this about b what's the best verse to summarize the sense c what are we called to do in response to this so a what is this about well in the first part of verse eight we had our chapter nine sorry we had lady wisdom calling out right which and it's almost exactly word for word um right uh she verse four she cries out in the highest place of the city whoever is simple let him turn in here as for him who lacks understanding she says come and eat my bread and drink of the wine i have mixed forsake foolishness and live and go into in the way of understanding so we see lady wisdom in verses 1 through 12 and now we see lady folly in verses 13 through 18 and they make the same cry they do the same thing and yet their outcomes are very different what does verse 10 say right the fear of the lord is the beginning of the wisdom and the knowledge the holy one is understanding for by me your days will be multiplied and the years of your life will be added to you versus what the scriptures tell us lady foley says right instead of going and fearing the lord and getting instruction being rebuked what does lady folly say she cries out to those who pass by stolen water is sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant and this is most likely alluding back to those fountains those the illicit sexual encounters and stuff like that that were talked about in chapter five and this this all this something something's wrong here there's there's oh all right there's there's something that's that lady folly is trying to make it attractive right it was stolen water sweet she's folly always wants to entice and just go after what looks good and pleasurable and fun nobody wants to be rebuked nobody wants to work hard to come to wisdom and yet that's what the lord says and those people who follow lady folly what is their outcome verse 18 but she does not know but sorry but he does not know that the dead are there that her guests are in the depths of the grave of sheol that's this is the reality of foolishness and it should be a rebuke to each and every one of us because every time we sin we act like fools and our paths lead down to death this is the result right for the wages of sin is death but the free gift of god is eternal life in christ jesus our lord and so go the way of wisdom fear the lord right to see calling i'm just gonna i'm just gonna go ahead and be a little bit preachy with you here go to the lord be rebuked by his word hear and see the wisdom of jesus christ don't go after after stolen water and secret bread go for the bread of life that was publicly displayed for everyone to see go for the one who will give you life and give it to you abundantly turn away from lady folly and turn towards christ and turn toward christ let's pray father we thank you so much for warning us about lady foley father we pray that we would flee from sin but father we thank you that even though we prove ourselves to be fools lord you use the foolish things of this world to teach us the most profound truth that you demonstrated your own love for us and that while we were yet sinners christ died for us lord we thank you for saving us i pray that we would walk in the path of life now in jesus name amen may god bless you may you follow the paths of wisdom may you fix your eyes upon jesus and may the lord give you a great night's sleep and i'll see you in the morning bye