Proverbs 5:15-18:
Drink water from your own cistern,
And running water from your own well.
Should your fountains be dispersed abroad,
Streams of water in the streets?
Let them be only your own,
And not for strangers with you.
Let your fountain be blessed,
And rejoice with the wife of your youth.
Throughout Proverbs 5 Solomon warns of being enticed by an immoral woman. Solomon certainly should have known about being led away by immoral women (1 Kings 11:4). The idea of Proverbs 5 is clear: be satisfied with your own wife [or husband] and do not look to anyone else in place of your spouse.
The world around us certainly ignores the admonition given in Proverbs 5. The world tells us that if for any reason we are unsatisfied with our spouse that we should just simply find someone else. The world also encourages sinful ideas such as the “need” to live together before you get married in order to ensure a more “successful” marriage. A relationship that is outside of God’s authority is not successful.
I have to teach my children the emphasis and value that God has placed on marriage. God designed marriage to be one man and one woman for life. Although God allows for divorce in cases of adultery (Matthew 19:1-10), God does not desire separation in a Biblical marriage. I must instruct my children about God’s design for marriage, but also remove all the filth that the world has placed in God’s beautifully designed marriage. My instruction shouldn’t end at teaching about marriage,though. I need to also teach my children what to look for in a spouse, and also how to behave Biblically as a spouse.
