Prov. 7:21 “With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. 22 All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast 23 till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.”

One more observation on this passage needs to be made before we move on. It is to recognize Temptation’s “tipping point.” “All at once” verse 22 begins, and this is the key thought. Up until this moment, recovery is still available. But there is an indefinable point at which Temptation’s appeals have been listened to and entertained for so long – and the Believing heart’s objections denied for so long that it becomes a case of: “He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing” (Pr 29:1).