“AS A DOG RETURNETH TO HIS
VOMIT, SO A FOOL RETURNETH TO HIS FOLLY”
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:
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