Proverbs 6 - Difficult Message

6:2 if you have trapped yourself by your agreement and are caught by what you said— 3 follow my advice and save yourself, for you have placed yourself at your friend’s mercy. Now swallow your pride; go and beg to have your name erased. 4 Don’t put it off; do it now! Don’t rest until you do. 5 Save yourself like a gazelle escaping from a hunter, like a bird fleeing from a net.

This scripture is somewhat difficult to understand and very difficult to explain. Does this mean that we are not supposed to enter into agreements with anyone. Surely not. What this does mean is that we are not supposed to enter into any agreement that we know would limit our ability to be all the we can be for God, for our careers, for our family, etc. I was recently discussing something of this sort with a friend of mine with regards to a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). With regards to this type of document it is very difficult to know when it is proper to sign one and when it is not. NDAs are generally a blanket statement saying that everything you do while working for a company becomes their property, that you cannot take contacts you make while working for them and use them elsewhere, that you cannot disclose any of this information or other information obtained, discovered, generated, etc while under the NDA contract. These contracts are typical in the banking industry as a bank will often not enter into a relationship with you from a corporate standpoint until you sign one. As a whole these agreements are not enforceable but as a Christian anything you sign you have put your name and integrity on and you are bound by that integrity to honor. That is what Solomon is trying to state here. When you enter into an agreement you must be sure that it will not ever cause you to undermine your integrity or your faith or you will have to beg the other party for release from this agreement