The Voice You Are Listening To | Proverbs 5

Let’s sit gently with Proverbs 5 for a moment and listen to the tender voice of a Father who sees the weight we carry. This chapter is often taught as a warning about sexual sin, but if we slow down, we’ll see it’s much deeper. It’s about where we turn when our desires flare up, when we’re weary, lonely, overstimulated, or aching for something to quiet the ache. This passage is about attention, attachment, and appetite—and the way our hearts reach for comfort when we feel empty or unseen.

It opens with a plea: “My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding.” Before anything is said about temptation, God speaks to our attention. Because the battle doesn’t begin with behavior. It begins with what we focus on. That’s what shapes desire. And honestly, for those of us who are trauma survivors, or who live with neurodivergent minds, this hits home. Our brains are often scanning, looking for relief, trying to regulate in a world that feels too much. And whatever we give our focus to—especially when we’re dysregulated—starts shaping what we crave.

God doesn’t sugarcoat anything. He says the voice of temptation “drips honey.” It soothes. It validates. It sounds like relief. And that’s exactly what makes it dangerous. Because it feels like connection, it feels like someone finally seeing you or offering something to ease the pressure. But then Scripture tells us the outcome: “in the end she is bitter as wormwood.” That phrase—“in the end”—is something anyone with a trauma story understands. What felt like a lifeline in the moment turned out to be another layer of regret, another soul-fragmenting choice. God’s not shaming us here. He’s protecting us from that slow unraveling.

And He doesn’t tell us to “be stronger” or “resist harder.” Instead, He says, “keep your way far from her.” Create space. Guard your proximity. This is wisdom. It’s also deeply trauma-informed. God knows how our nervous systems work. He knows that the best way to resist is not to white-knuckle our way through but to reduce exposure. To move away from what dysregulates us. To avoid the places where our peace gets stolen before we even realize it.

Then the tone shifts. The Father moves from warning to invitation. “Drink water from your own cistern… Let your fountain be blessed.” He’s not anti-desire. He’s pro-safe-desire. He wants joy and intimacy and pleasure to exist inside safety, covenant, trust. That’s where it thrives. It’s not about restriction. It’s about rootedness. He knows the human body was designed for joy to be contained and protected, not scattered in desperate attempts to be seen or soothed.

And then we come to the quiet reminder at the end: “For your ways are in full view of the Lord.” This isn’t surveillance. It’s care. God sees where every path leads. He knows the toll on your spirit when you carry too many silent battles. He knows how unmet needs shape behavior. He understands that it’s hard to discern clearly when you’re tired, lonely, or longing for connection.

So here’s a question that rises gently from Proverbs 5:

Where are you turning for comfort right now?

Not just physically but emotionally, mentally, spiritually. Where do you run when it’s been a hard day? When you're overstimulated or under-cherished?

There is no condemnation here. Only invitation. If you’ve wandered, grace still reaches. If you’ve tasted bitterness, healing is still available. Proverbs 5 is not God wagging His finger. It’s a Father whispering, “Come back. Let Me be the One who soothes you.”

Because the only voice that never turns bitter in the end is His.