I`m a stubborn man that has learned nearly everything the hard way. My question to this Proverb is…why! Why does a dog return to its vomit? Why do we, as conveyed in this Proverb, return to our wicked ways, our addictions, or our folly?
As I analyzed this question in my mind, it hit me that a dog does this by natural instinct. He doesn’t return to his vomit because he`s addicted or knows the difference, he does so because his instinct tells him “Hey…go eat that vomit.” I know this is gross but stick with me here. As I thought about this fact, I realized that we have a natural instinct to sin. I believe this is why Paul says, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24).
So many times, I have wondered why Paul said such a thing. I have also heard many Christians try to analyze this scripture. I`m no theologian but I believe he was making the case that we have no way out of this natural instinct to return to our vomit except through Jesus Christ.
Last night I was wondering back toward a pile of vomit (figuratively) and I could not stop myself. I was very curious to find out some news about a past occurrence in my life (one that Christ has freed me from). If I had followed the scriptures and “leaned not to my own understanding,” the Holy Spirit would have quickened me and I would have seen myself returning to the folly of my past. Instead, I wondered forward into the past.
I got some much-needed answers to some old questions. You would think that it was a good thing, right? Actually, I came home feeling like I needed a shower. I was filled with fear, anger, more questions, and a desire to speak to some people that are not good for me. Somewhere deep inside of me is this unexplainable need to set things right with people that don’t care and never will.
In the midst of this experience, a friend I saw last night asked an important question to another person we were talking with. He asked him, “Should we ever ask forgiveness from people in our past like, say, a drug dealer that we ripped off…or someone of that nature in our past?” I remembered asking a dear friend of mine the same question about old playmates and playgrounds that I hung out in before Christ saved me. He said, “that`s like going into a den of thieves and asking them to forgive you for stealing.”
It was then I realized that I had made a mistake ever trying to reach back into the past—back to people in my past—that will never understand my new walk with Christ; nor will they forgive and forget my real, or supposed, past mistakes; and even if they do, it probably won`t be in the way I would like it to be done. I will be in Gods way, and in His time.
The answer is simple. God`s ways are truly simple if we study His word. The answer to this dilemma—the answer Paul spoke of—the way we can keep ourselves from returning to our folly: “trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
The point is that my understanding of life, situations in life, and the answers to life do not have the omnipotent vantage point of the creator of all things: All Mighty God. I will never see what He sees, know what He knows, or think as He thinks; however, through Christ, I have access to the Father of Lights. I have the ability to seek His ways, to ask for His advice and counsel. Jesus said, “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” (Mathew 7:9). In a previous verse (Mathew 7:7) He says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
This proves that we can be set free from this body of death, from returning to our folly, and from slavery to our past sins and mistakes if we walk in the spirit and not in the flesh: meaning, we must stay in prayer and lean not on our own understanding. I share these things as a follower of Christ in the hope that my own experiences can help my brothers and sisters as we run to finish the race. God bless. SWB
Photo credit: https://www.etsy.com/listing/102893346/praying-biker
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