Proverbs 30:18-20

Proverbs 30:18-20
​English Standard Version
18 Three things are too wonderful for me;
    four I do not understand:
19 the way of an eagle in the sky,
    the way of a serpent on a rock,
the way of a ship on the high seas,
    and the way of a man with a virgin.

​20 This is the way of an adulteress:
    she eats and wipes her mouth
    and says, “I have done no wrong.”

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The writer of this proverbs says that even in their old age, there is still wonder and mystery--I might even go so far as to say things that make them stop and worship the LORD for the way in which he has made things, and these mysteries are really too hard for even the mind of the wise to understand.  First, the way in which the eagle soars on the thermals.  We can understand the mechanics and physics of all this, but to see it is still marvelous and makes us want to worship the Creator.  The second is the snake the slithers across a rock.  It moves and glides silently though it has no feet.  It too is something marvelous to watch in its own way.  The next is the ship on the high seas that is moved by the winds.  It wouldn't seem that something big like that could float and be taken where the captain and pilot want it to go.  Last, but certainly not least as I think there is an argument to the greater here, is the mystery of a man and woman falling in love with each other and courting each other.  It is something beautiful and wonderful and also something mysterious.  There is a component to it that is "chemistry," but there is also the stronger love that is self-sacrificing and is second only to the love of God Himself.  This kind of unselfish love is also mysterious and mesmerizing.

Like all good things though, the wicked pervert the good things of God with their counterfeits.  Therefore, be on guard for the fake love of the adulteress.  She is but a hunter looking for her prey.  She feels no guilt for the sin she has committed or the destruction she has caused.  God has not created the body for instant gratification like that outside the bounds of marriage--that is like putting fire directly in your lap and expecting to not get burnt (Proverbs makes this exact analogy elsewhere).  Fire is safe when it is confined and used for the correct purposes but take it out of those confines and let it go wild, and it is a destructive force.  The same is true for sexual intimacy--it is meant for one man and one woman in a lifelong covenant of marriage.