“Passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness” (Proverbs 7:8-9). The naive youth lacking in sense of Proverbs 7:6-7 is already ignoring the voice of wisdom (cf. Proverbs 5:8). Impure thoughts and motives are probably already in the mind of this young man. He is passing through the street near her corner. There are other ways he could have gone. He did not have to come down this road, he wanted to. He may be thinking to himself just a glimpse of her won’t hurt. I can go through here and resist temptation. This rationality is often used by people who really want to succumb to temptation, they just aren’t willing to admit it (even to themselves). He is passing through at a dangerous time. It is dark. He is away from the public eye (he thinks anyways). He knows enough to know what he is doing is wrong and does not want to be observed even passing through this area. This is a time when he is away from the safeguards of public disapproval and wholesome fellowship. He is in the wrong place at the wrong time. We need to be careful about what we are looking at when we are by ourselves and where we are going. Often, people (especially young people) do not consider their physical location to be something that will lead them to sin. Wisdom says otherwise. We should not flirt with temptation by putting ourselves in compromising situations.

–by Jeremy Sprouse