God is very graphic in warning us about going back to situations that were harmful to us before. Proverbs 26:11-12 tells us: “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.” God is warning us that we are not to trust our own thinking when it comes to some issues in life. I looked up the expression about a dog returning to its own vomit and found that the Bible is talking about rabid dogs. In the East, troops of fierce half-famished dogs, without masters, are often wandering around the towns and villages. They eat anything they can find. Anyone who has cats and dogs for pets knows that the silly dog will find great treasures in the cat box, as disgusting as that is! Dogs will eat poop. There I said it. A dog will eat its own vomit if it’s hungry enough, as these rabid dog packs do. There are other references to dogs in the Bible as well. These talk about the packs of dogs eating a dead person. Disgusting, but true.
1 Kings 14:11: “Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat.”
1 Kings 16:4: “Him that dieth of Baasha in the city shall the dogs eat.”
2 Kings 9:10: “And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her.”
The Lord is using this example to make a point: Don’t be enticed into going back into a bad situation. Let’s not let ourselves be bewitched by a memory. Think about it: The fresh food the dog ate is no longer fresh when it comes out – it’s waste. It’s dead and deadly. Toxic! It’s not what it used to be!
We’ve all made the mistake of thinking we could go back to an old job, an old relationship, a place we once lived, and think it will be better this time around. But we really need to check it out with the Lord first before we make this kind of decision. There may be good things about going back, but remember, there was a reason we left in the first place. Jane grew up in Chicago, so when we both returned from being missionaries in Africa, she suggested we go to her hometown because she knew we would easily find work there.
But it wasn’t long until she discovered that she’d made a grave mistake. Growing up in the Polish community, Jane remembers hearing the adults talk. She said the two main subjects of conversation were sickness and death. When she went back there to live, the spirit of death was always hovering over her. She felt like she was suffocating and two years later she knew she had to leave or she’d die. We left and only returned once to see my favorite Art Museum and Cubs game.
When Jane and I first moved to Las Vegas, she met a young girl at work whose boyfriend was an ex-con. The girl would come to work bruised. He hit her at home. One Monday she was scraped up and couldn’t move her fingers. He’d thrown her out of a moving car. That was when Jane called a battered women’s shelter. The counselor on the phone stopped the conversation and started counseling Jane. She told her she shouldn’t even get involved at this point because the average battered woman leaves 7 times before she leaves for good. The counselor told Jane it was classic for a third party to get involved to try to help and all that happens is that they get in the middle of the couple and the woman defends the abuser. The counselor said it never does any good to get involved until the woman seeks help for herself.
The packs of wild dogs will eat their own vomit and will eat what is dead. Let’s not do that. Jane wanted to go back to Chicago because there was good potential there, but it was too toxic for her. The good things didn’t override the bad. Some relationships and associations from the past were dead and weren’t to be resurrected.
Admitting we can’t go back to a person, place or situation isn’t failure; it’s deliverance!
God admonishes us: “In all thy ways acknowledge him [God], and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear [respect] the Lord, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones” (Prov. 3:6-8). “Health to thy navel” is health to your “nerves,” in other words, getting rid of a lot of anxiety and stress. “Marrow to thy bones” is “refreshing to your bones,” but not like plain water, more like a drink that is more delicate, like wine.
God’s will is that we are blessed, not stressed.
Like the scripture says, it’s relief and health to our nerves and smooth, delicate refreshing to our bones. When our bones are refreshed, we can freely move without being so burdened. “For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall” (Ps. 18:29).
So if you’re thinking about going back to a person, place or situation, please give it prayerful consideration.
I’m not saying that people should never go back. People go back all the time and do very well. I think it’s probably because they are able to see the situation not as it was, but as a totally new situation, and that’s Biblical. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).
But if you can’t continue to see it as new and good, then it probably won’t ever be, unless you know that the Lord himself has a sovereign intervention on the way.
When we’re in the bad situation, it’s hard to see our way out. Human nature is to stay with the status quo, no matter how awful. The unknown seems too scary. But we CAN be brave. We got out before; we can do it again. With God’s help, let’s pray we don’t have to go back 7 times!
And for those of us who have family or friends who have fallen prey to this hurtful dilemma, let’s minister like the Lord instructed Timothy: “And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient. In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover [awake] themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2 Tim. 2:24-26).
Love, Carolyn
Other teachings and true-life stories I’ve written to help you live the Bible way:
No comments:
Post a Comment