A friend of mine who recently got a copy of The Purity Driven Life asked me what my personal strategies were in dealing with sexual temptation. We started talking about the importance of the word of God, devotional time and memorizing scripture. Today as I was reading Proverbs Chapter 5 I was struck by verses 3 and 4 in particular.

For the lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil. But in the end she is as bitter as poison, as dangerous as a double-edged sword. Prov 5:3,4

I immediately thought of the verse in Hebrews 4,

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Hebrews 4:12

In doing a little research I discovered that the bible only mentions a two-edged or double-edged sword a few times. Most of the mentions are related to the word of God such as mentioned in Hebrews 4:12 or a two-edged sword coming from the mouth of Jesus in the book of Revelation.

There are 2 other times that double or two-edged sword is mentioned. Once in Judges Chapter 3 and once in Proverbs Chapter 5. Judges Chapter 3 begins by declaring that the Lord purposely left enemies in the land to test his people and teach them to fight to stay true and pure in obeying his commandments.

These are the nations that the LORD left in the land to test those Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan. He did this to teach warfare to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle...These people were left to test the Israelites—to see whether they would obey the commands the LORD had given to their ancestors through Moses. Judges 3;1,2,4

Judges Chapter 3 goes on to tell how the people fell into idol worship and as a result God gave their enemies control over them. They cried out and he rescued them but within a generation gave in to idol worship again and remained in servitude another 18 years. Once more they cried out to God who in his grace raised up another rescuer. His name was Ehud son of Gera.Ehud used a double edged sword strapped to his thigh under his garment to kill the oppressive king and escape through the kings royal latrine. Apparently, getting free of the grip of sin’s control  may mean we have to get desperate, down and dirty!

I find it interesting that Proverbs 5 describes sexual sin as deadly as poison and dangerous as a double edged sword. There is no other sin described this way yet, what is even more interesting is that Hebrew 4:12 says the word of God as  “alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword”.

The most powerful weapon we have in our arsenal as a child of almighty God is his word. It becomes a powerful weapon when it is read, meditated upon, spoken and memorized to be used like Ehud the son of Gera to fatally wound the enemy of our souls! It is more powerful than Sexual sin and temptation...if you use it!

Fight! Every. Day.

Mike