READING: Psalms 7-9, Acts 18
“He dug a pit and hollowed it out but fell into the hole he had made.”
Psalm 7:15
It’s a simple word that is worth remembering – “He dug a pit and hollowed it out but fell into the hole he had made. His trouble comes back on his own head, and his violence falls on the top of his head” (Psa. 7:15-16). So the psalmist reminds us that the wicked man may conceive of evil and give birth to its actions, but his choices come back to haunt him. Using what seems to be an imagery of hunting, the writer speaks of an evil one falling into the same trap he had previously set for others. Says one writer, “The principle, of both evil and its consequences, is stated clearly in v 17: evil eventually functions like a boomerang, bringing back upon its perpetrators the wickedness planned for others.”* God thus allows us to suffer the cost of our sinful choices, but He also uses those repercussions as one means of carrying out judgment on our wrong. In our sin, we become victims of our own choices . . .
I am reminded of other places in the Scriptures where evil gets caught in evil. For example, Haman was hanged on the equipment he had created for Mordecai (Esther 7:10). The three armies gathered against King Jehoshaphat and his forces in 2 Chronicles 20 surprisingly turned on each other until all the enemies were destroyed (2 Chron. 20:22-23). Sin brings consequences of judgment and justice, and the Lord’s word is again affirmed: we shall reap what we sow (Gal. 6:7).
Frankly, I wish we more often remembered these stories. Sin loses some of its attraction when we remember that we can be captured in the same trap we set, snared in the same net we cast, and burned by the same fire we start. Again in the words of the psalmist, “the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands” (Psa. 9:6). We do not sin without consequences.
ACTION STEPS:
- Live obediently today, reaping the blessings of obedience.
- Pray for someone whose choices seem to be leading only to trouble.
PRAYER: “God, remind me that there are consequences to my choices today.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Psalms 10-12, Acts 19:1-20
* Craigie, P. C. (2004). Psalms 1–50 (2nd ed., Vol. 19, p. 103). Nashville, TN: Nelson Reference & Electronic.
