“Even in a society dominated by images and video, words remain the battleground for sexual purity. Every illicit image whispers a lie and makes a promise it cannot keep. By listening to the words of God and knowing him with fear and affection, we are prepared to prove that sexual sin’s promises are untrustworthy and therefore unenticing.”

Two voices vie for your sexual purity. If you think the battle is just about images and videos, you won’t be ready to fight. This is a war of words.

According to Proverbs 2, whom we listen to — each morning, throughout the day, late at night — will determine whether we give in to temptation or resist with the strength of God. The first voice is the voice of God written in Scripture:

My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God. (Proverbs 2:1–5)

While some counselors simply say, “Run away from her,” true wisdom says, “Run even harder after God.” How will you be delivered from “the forbidden woman . . . with her smooth words” (Proverbs 2:16)? By surer words. It’s not the only strategy we need for sexual purity, but without this ruthless habit of mind and heart, every other strategy is bound to fail.

The First Voice We Hear

Notice that the wise man doesn’t simply encourage his son to read the Bible, but to listen, search, cry out, and dig.

Listen carefully with your ears (2:2).
Search persistently with your eyes (2:4).
Cry out desperately with your mouth (2:3).
Dig tirelessly with your hands (2:4).
Wrap your heart around these words (2:1–2).

Hearing God’s voice in the Bible requires more from us than other kinds of reading. It requires all of us. Reading the Bible well means engaging every part of you — meditating and praying until God’s words are pleasant to you (Proverbs 2:10). No one is saved from sin and temptation simply by information. We need surgery — words sharp enough to pierce through our dullness, wielded by one wise enough and strong enough to never harm us.

Receive. Treasure. Make your ear attentive. Incline your heart. Seek it like silver. Does engaging God’s word feel that active to you? Reading the Bible is good, but reading alone is not enough to feed and purify our souls. When we give more, expect more, pray more, invest more in our reading, God’s words begin to have their full effect in our hearts and lives by his Spirit.

No Shortcuts to Life Change

If you seek God’s wisdom like silver, “then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God” (Proverbs 2:5).

The thens in Scripture are terribly frustrating for fools who want the conclusion without the exertion. The fool wants God to ship him purity because he asked for it. We’re prone to chafe and protest when God promises to give us what we asked for through persistent struggle. It doesn’t feel like a gift if we have to work.

Until we realize our effort is a miracle — something that would have never happened apart from divine intervention. It is supernatural to strive to enjoy God’s word — to listen, search, cry out, dig. And if you seek understanding like silver, “Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God” (Proverbs 2:5). Not simply knowledge of him like you know driving laws or American history, but knowledge filled with fear and affection — a kind of spiritual, emotional, and relational knowledge. You know him. And you are a different person for having known him.

The Second Voice

If you treasure God’s word, then you will fear and understand, and “so you will be delivered from the forbidden woman” (Proverbs 2:5, 16). There are three distinct steps in Proverbs 2. Don’t miss the sequence: If. Then. So. Bible meditation becomes fearful and affectionate knowledge of God himself, and that kind of knowledge delivers us from sexual sin and temptation.

Bible reading alone will not keep you from sexual sin. You will not know the Lord without really hearing his voice. And you will not find satisfying and durable sexual purity without knowing fearful and joyful communion with God through Scripture. If we try to check the boxes of obedience without trying to know him, we quickly forfeit our ability to consistently and joyfully say no to temptation.

And that temptation is the second most important voice in Proverbs 2.

Read More