In a time when desires became wild and took control of the hearts and minds of many, it is necessary to contemplate their path and where they lead a person.
1- Submission: “And They perverted their thinking”
Whatever the reasons or beginnings, lust has no power over those who reject it or do not desire it. It is the man who surrenders his mind to it with all his will. The beginning is always with the mind. Is it the passion for the unknown to man? Perhaps it is the escape from hardships? Or maybe it is the conviction that many people “ostensibly” enjoy something, so why should I deprive myself? Or all of these reasons combined? Regardless, man rationalize with his mind and convinces himself that the experience is not dangerous.
2- Agony: “Both were pierced to the heart for her, but they did not tell each other their pain”
But lust is merciless, and from the first experience, agony becomes inherent to a person like his shadow! On the one hand, a person’s conscience hurts him in his heart because of what he does and because of abandoning his role and mission “They turned away their heart and averted their eyes from looking to heaven, and from remembering righteous judgments”.
And on the other hand, lust itself hurts the heart with the desire to fulfill it, and between this and that the man is torn and lives in endless agony.
3- Captivity and the dissolution of the will: “One day they said to each other, “Let us be off for home, it is time for the noon meal.” So, they went their separate ways. But both turned back and arrived at the same spot”
A little later, the person becomes a prisoner of lust, moving away a little, or even going far, but as a captive being led with a rope that only the person himself can see, he returns again to the same spot! He wants lust even if he hates it. A person becomes torn in two between what he desires and what he wants!
4- Not being satisfied: “This is how both of you deal with the daughters of Israel, and they have been intimate with you through fear”
And the person becomes like a ghost who eats without getting full and drinks without quenching his thirst! Lust does not know “enough”! What started as one action a week became every day, and what was every day became many times a day! Susanna in the story of the two elders was not the first, and certainly was not going to be the last, so why the insistence on her in particular?! This is what lust does to a person, it never makes him satisfied with what is available, and always seeks more and more!
5- The spread of corruption: “You pronounce unjust judgments, condemn the innocent, and set the guilty free. Yet the Lord said, ‘You shall not kill the innocent and the righteous”
One mistakenly thinks that lust is limited to a specific action in his life, for corruption is like cancer, it begins in an organ and does not stop until it spreads to the whole body!
Whoever starts smoking becomes addicted to drugs, and whoever tastes drugs succumbs to theft or bribery, etc.!
A person even dares to brag about his desires "But turning back, they met again, and when they pressured each other for the reason, they confessed their desire"
6- Arrogance and lack of wisdom: “If you do not, we will testify that a young man was with you, and because of this you sent your maids away from you.”
With the spread of corruption, wisdom disappears from a person’s life. Even in matters of lust, you find him arrogantly rushing to satisfy his desires without even planning. In the story of the two elders, they did not even care to pre-align on one narration, but rather arrogantly and stupidly went on to seize Susanna, thinking that no one would hold them accountable!
7- Death! “Then Daniel said: ‘Plainly, you lied against your own head, for even now the angel of God receives the sentence from God, and he shall cut you in two.”
Whatever the path and whatever the desire was, the end is always the same. If a person does not repent, there is a God who does not sleep. "O eternal God, who know both what is secret and all things before they come to be" And if he is patient and gives a person a chance to come to his mind and returns with repentance, this does not mean that he is satisfied with what he does!
He knows the life of every human being before it comes to be, and if a person exhausts all his opportunities for repentance: "Plainly, you also lied against your own head, for the angel of God is waiting with his sword to cut you in two, that he may destroy both of you."