Proverbs 29:3 Searching, or waiting?

A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.

Are you looking at the verse above, and wondering why I have a picture portraying Rebekah and Abraham's servant up there? Ahh, glad you asked!

Well, let's start at the verse, which speaks of a person who sounds a lot like the prodigal son in Luke 15:
Luke 15:11 ¶ And he said, A certain man had two sons: 12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. 13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
 
Now the prodigal son had the same opportunity to read in the proverbs of Solomon that every other young man did, and he should have seen the warnings, right? (Proverbs chapter 7 is a great example.)
But hey! Why should we think that the young man would be any wiser than Solomon, who was without a doubt, the wisest man of his time? And Solomon fell prey to the wiles of his many (go ahead, say "many" several times there) wives, who wanted to mix in their pagan religions with the worship of the true God. These pagan religions had sexual immorality wound tightly around and through their rituals and practices, and that is just one of the reasons why God had admonished Israel to avoid intermarriage with other nations.

God had set forth the ways for the Hebrew people to sacrifice and worship, and they did not include temple prostitutes, the way other religions did. Apparently those practices had persisted, since Paul mentions them in Corinthians.
To bring this to our era, there are many Christian men and women (of all ages) who have abandoned their faith because of the allure of sexual immorality, and the siren song of today, "if it feels good, do it!" Sometimes young Christians fail in this area because of their own sinful hearts. Sometimes they fail because of the failure of adult Christians in their lives to model selfless marriage and the joy that it can bring. Today's media often portrays marriage as a conflict-filled shouting match, instead of the "honorable" and "undefiled" union that God can bless with peace and love. The media also presents the union of male and female as best and most exciting, if it is outside of marriage.

Is it any wonder that so many young people fall into sexual sin? Is it any wonder that many adults do the same?
We need to counsel our young people against that path --- we need to let them know that it will rob them of more than just their "substance" and their money. It will rob them of joy, and make their lives miserable. What can we offer them instead?

Let's tell them to search God's word for the fulfillment of their desires and needs, and find a mate that God has expressly chosen for them -- a Christian who will love the Lord as they do. And let's tell them that the way to find that mate is not to go out and search . . . but to be a Rebekah. Be in the place that God has for you. Be waiting. Be ready. Be the kind of person that you should be for Christ and wait for Him to provide.
If there are any single ladies reading today, I hope that you will feel this is directed to you, as well. Please don't feel that you must go out and search; please don't be in a rush.  Be the Christian that the Bible tells you how to be. Be ready and waiting. God will bring the right person to you.

“Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day. Psalm 25:5