Pits and Boulders – Toni M. Babcock
“The one who digs a pit will fall into it, and whoever rolls a stone — it will come back on him.” (Proverbs 26:27 CSB)
There’s always a sense of justice served when the evil designed for someone else falls on the one who designed it. The verse above is a scriptural reminder of the time-worn adage “What goes around comes around.”
Figuratively speaking, have you ever fallen into a pit someone else dug for you, or been ‘hit by a boulder’ they got rolling? Be assured, what goes around comes around — if not in time, certainly in eternity. We’ll all answer to Jesus for how we choose to treat one another.
When someone digs a pit for another, he or she creates a clear temptation. These pitfalls come with warnings to the wise and the discerning, however, for “…God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV) That friend who hands a drink to a recovering alcoholic may not intend to ruin his buddy’s life, but if it ensnares him in another cycle of addiction, that ‘friend’ has dug a pit, and his buddy failed to heed the warning and fell right in.
The one who “rolls a stone” is a bit more sinister. His stones will barrel into your life without warning, often starting the slow descent with a little push of gossip here and a few choice half-truths there, gathering momentum. Malice and deceit stick to the jagged edges before the boulder gets larger and clobbers you like a ton of bricks.
God has a word, however: “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their righteousness is from me, says the LORD,” (Isaiah 54:17 NKJV).
Toni M. Babcock is the author of Reflections from the Heart. Contact
