Proverbs 9:17. “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
Miss Folly can only offer stolen pleasures. Pleasures that were never yours to have in the first place. Yesterday, we began to talk about the application of this in regards to sexual sin, but the principle is universal – stolen pleasures can only be enjoyed in secret, which means they can never be fully enjoyed.
Of course, Miss Folly will lie to us and try to convince us that stolen water is sweeter. Stolen bread is more pleasant. Sure, this may be true in the moment, but not in the long run.
Have you ever stolen anything? Stealing give us what we want in the moment, but then, like Achan and Jericho’s treasure, we must hide it rather than really enjoy it. Stolen “blessings” can never be public blessings. And if they can’t be public, then they can’t be shared and passed on to others, which is the whole point of being blessed. Stolen joys can’t be enjoyed together with others, they can only be enjoyed in secret. Joy grows in community, shame grows alone.
Folly’s invitation reveals just how far we have fallen. She doesn’t even try to conceal the fact that her pleasures are stolen pleasures. In fact, she’s counting on this being why we would want them. We are enticed by lousy water and bread, a prisoner’s meal, BECAUSE it is stolen, obviously not because it is better than the wine the Miss Wisdom is offering at her feast. The truth is, we want less desirable things simply because they are forbidden. We desire things simply because they aren’t ours. Why? Because our god complex makes us believe that everything should be ours, that God is withholding something from us. That our freedom is being withheld.
In wilderness Jesus himself was offered bread eaten in secret. After 40 days of fasting, he seemed to have every right to that bread. Why would the Father withhold it? Satan tried to convince Jesus that the withholding of bread was the withholding of the Father’s love and of Christ’s true sonship. But Jesus did not fall for the lie of the Devil. There’s something greater than bread he retorted. Man will not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
God never withholds God.
God never withholds his grace.
God never withholds his love.
Anything God forbids or withholds he does so because of his love.
Anything that we truly need and even desire from our deepest heart, God provides in Christ. Christ the living water. Christ the bread of life.
You: Can you identify the stolen pleasures in your life? Things that you have no business pursuing or doing?
You in Christ: How does knowing that God has given us all we need and desire in Christ allow you to say no to the stolen pleasures of life?
Christ in you: How can you feast on Christ? Drink in Christ? How can he satisfy a desire that you have for something “stolen?”
Pray: Father, I trust you that you give me exactly what I need when I need it, for you have already given me all I need in Christ. Amen.
To Live is Christ 