A few years ago I was reading through Proverbs with my son, and we came to this chapter, “Avoid the Immoral Woman.” He was only about seven at the time and I remember cringing a little inside. We pressed on and I just prayed quietly to myself for God to help me explain things the way he wanted me to.

We came to verse 16 and I quickly said, “Love your wife only, and nobody else.” 

Phew, that was a close one. I almost had to talk about the three letter word with him. Thankfully what I said summed up the entire chapter perfectly. That a man would be so in love with his wife, but more importantly so in love with Jesus that he would heed and take the warnings about avoiding immoral women very seriously.

Furthermore, if I were talking to my daughters about this chapter, I would say to let their husband love them.

“Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.” Proverbs 5:18

What does a “fountain of blessing” mean? It means a source of life, joy, and purification that bends down and puts the other person before themselves. Sounds a lot like Jesus, doesn’t it? Whenever we question how we are to love our spouse, we can always look at how Jesus has loved us and see clearly how to give ourselves up for them. Marriage is a beautiful portrait of Christ and his church. As women, we can look to his word and learn how he designed marriage and get the direction we need to honor God with our wifehood. We won’t always do it perfectly, but we will pray for a fountain of grace from our husband as we ask God to help us be a fountain of blessing to him.

We will also pray like crazy and never stop praying for our husband to listen and follow God’s commands to stay away from the  “immoral women” this chapter speaks of. She’s out there, and the enemy will be certain to try and lure him into sin through her. (I know, it’s so not fun to talk about, but somebody has to!) A husband is responsible for his own actions and we want to be a fountain of blessing to him by praying daily for him to be careful to keep the covenant he made before God to love only us.

Lastly, you can talk to your husband about putting safe barriers in place to help both of you stay true to the promises you made to love only one another. This is something my husband and I have become passionate about. We’ve spoken to groups about it together a few times and I’ve written about it in a few places (you can find links below.) As we are studying the book about wisdom, let’s be wise and put walls up and protect our most important earthly relationship: our marriage. If you haven’t already talked to your husband about being proactive to avoid letting another woman slide their way into your man’s heart, then prayer and the links below will help you. Please take the time to protect your marriage and frequently make sure you are continuing to do so. Don’t get comfortable thinking you or your husband are above the ability to sin. Set boundaries and stick to them, because a lifelong marriage is worth it.

I know this has been a tough topic to write about, as it is not the most fun to read about either, I am sure. We say “I do” and ride off happily into the sunset, right? Girls, that’s in fairy tales. We live in a world where the enemy prowls around like a lion, looking for someone (or someone’s marriage) to devour.

“Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

The good news is: after you set up walls to protect your marriage and ask Jesus daily to keep them nice and strong, he also makes the space behind the walls abundant with beauty unimaginable. The stories only heaven sees behind the sacred walls of your marriage will echo into eternity. What an amazing gift the Lord gave us in marriage. It’s definitely worth making sure you are a fountain of blessing and that you are doing what you can to protect your marriage. ❤

My husband and I sharing our story

>>>A book to help you set up walls around your marriage<<<

Keep reading through the weekend! I’ll be back on Monday with chapter 8!

Amy