Proverbs 2:17-22: a reflection

17who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God; 18for her house leads down to death, her paths to the departed spirits. 19None who go to her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life. 20Therefore walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. 21For the upright will dwell in the land. The perfect will remain in it. 22But the wicked will be cut off from the land. The treacherous will be rooted out of it.

In warning his son against the seductions of sin, the writer of Proverbs describes one who has gone astray in a revealing way: she forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God. Beneath the particular sin lies a deeper failure: the forsaking of solemn commitments, the breaking of covenant, both with another person and with God. What is described is not only an act, but the abandonment of promises once made.

Notice how the passage frames the failure: as the forsaking of the companion of one's youth and the forgetting of one's covenant with God. Beneath the outward sin is the breaking of commitment, the abandonment of solemn promises and covenants. The deeper problem is unfaithfulness, the failure to keep faith with the commitments we have made, whether to a spouse, to others, or to God himself. Sin, at its root, often involves the forsaking of covenants and commitments.

That calls us to faithfulness in our commitments. We make covenants and commitments, solemn promises to God and to others, in marriage, in friendship, in our vows to God; and there is a constant temptation to forsake them, to forget them, to abandon what we once committed to when it becomes hard or when something else attracts us. But faithfulness means keeping the commitments we have made, not forsaking the companion of our youth or forgetting our covenant with God. Keep faith with your commitments, to God and to others. Do not forsake the solemn promises you have made when they become hard to keep; be faithful to your covenants, for the breaking of commitment is at the root of much that goes wrong. Keep faith, and do not forget the covenants you have made.

Lord, in warning against sin, your word describes one who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; beneath the outward sin lies the deeper failure of forsaking solemn commitments, the breaking of covenant with others and with you. Call me to faithfulness in my commitments. I make covenants and solemn promises to you and to others, in marriage, in friendship, in my vows to you; and there is a constant temptation to forsake them, to forget them, to abandon what I once committed to when it becomes hard or when something else attracts me. But faithfulness means keeping the commitments I have made. Help me keep faith with my commitments, to you and to others. Keep me from forsaking the solemn promises I have made when they become hard to keep; help me be faithful to my covenants, for the breaking of commitment is at the root of much that goes wrong. Help me keep faith, and not forget the covenants I have made. Make me faithful, Lord.