June 13
“A prudent man sees evil and hides himself, the naïve proceed and pay the penalty.” (Proverbs 27:12)
Why? Why do I not take the way of escape when I know it is there? Why do I sometimes not flee when I am faced with temptation? Why do I not listen to my conscience when it is clearly telling me not to do something? Why do I not listen to the Holy Spirit when He warns me and brings verses to mind that warn me of the danger ahead? Why do I quench and grieve the Spirit knowingly and proceed with my sin? Why do I see the evil coming and proceed and pay the penalty? Why do I so easily at times play the fool, repeating my folly, like a dog returning to its vomit? (Proverbs 26:11)
I think the following factors are involved. First, pride and thinking I could get away with it. Thinking I can enjoy sin just a little bit and then pull myself away before I get in too deep. “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling.” (Proverbs 16:18) The folly of this thinking is that I somehow will have the ability and willpower to control my flesh after I have already turned over control of my mind and body to sin! That’s like thinking I can overcome a violent enemy after I have unlocked the doors to my home, given him my weapons, and let him tie me up! I am totally at the mercy of this merciless entity that only wishes to bring me harm and destruction! That is what we are doing when we choose sin over obedience! It’s the folly of Sampson thinking he can be strong after sinning and revealing his secrets to one that he knew he could not trust! What did Sampson get? His eyes gouged out, and he was thrown into prison. (Judges 16) So we too suffer great spiritual and sometimes physical and material loss when we purposely proceed into sin.
A second reason why I sometimes proceed into sin and pay the penalty when I know better is that I sometimes let my emotions overcome my better judgment. In one situation I was angry with someone and wanted to express my anger with them and chose sin. Sometimes we can be mad at God and choose sin as a way to get back at Him. I recall on one or more occasions of sin that I was disappointed with the way I felt God was treating me, and at other times I recall feeling abandoned by God and that it didn’t matter what I did, that God was against me no matter whether I sinned or I didn’t sin. When we allow these false emotions to get the best of us and choose sin, we of course are hurting Him, but we are hurting ourselves far more. Sometimes we can be very sad and just want the pain of sadness and loneliness or some other negative emotion to go away, and so we choose sinful habits to “medicate” the pain away (sinning in these circumstances is like trying to fight a cold or a flue or a broken leg by injecting ourselves with poison; sin will only and always make us sicker).
To be continued tomorrow….