Thoughts From Proverbs 6

Proverbs 6:1-5

My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, have given your pledge for a stranger,
² if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth,
³ then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor.

⁴ Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber;
⁵ save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Having once experienced what the writer warns against, I have an acute sympathy to what he is saying. For my own satisfaction and safety I made a simple rule about pledging for another or lending. First know what the other party's intended use of the money is. If the use is one of necessity, I must be able to give the money to the other person. If I can't give it away because I do not approve the use, or because I have prior commitments, then I cannot commit the amount requested. For if it is not returned I do not want to be in the danger the writer describes. If I give it to the other person there is no danger.

The danger listed is to be snared, or put in bondage that is undesirable. The instructions are:

1.      Verse 3 - Give immediate attention to the danger. Know it and begin the process of escape.

2.      Verse 4 - Do not rest until you have begun the process of escape. Note in vs 3 “hasten”. This mistake merits urgency.

3.      Your only escape is to flee. There are times and situations where flight is necessary. Bravado will not help the gazelle or the bird. Flee!