Proverbs 6:1-5

Proverbs 6:1-5 My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, ²Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. ³Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend. ⁴Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. ⁵Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler (KJV).

Reflection

This passage is difficult to understand in the King James translation. The passage is warning people not to provide security for a friend’s debt. When you are security for a friend’s debt, you may end up having to take on the entire debt yourself. In the Proverb, the recommendation is made to try to get out of the situation as soon as possible.

Do not assume another person’s debt applies to the spiritual realm too. Some people are slaves to the law. They believe God is a mean, vengeful God. As a result, they feel a debt to God they cannot begin to pay. They may attempt to work off the debt through good deeds, through service at church, and by following every command in the Bible. Those people may even try to convince you to take that same debt upon yourself. Do not take that debt upon yourself. Live with the freedom and liberty God wants you to have. Do not spend your life tying to earn God’s love, because that makes you a slave. And God did not create you to be a spiritual slave.