We Can Learn From the Rewind - Today Can Be Different

“All I want is a room somewhere, far away from the cold night air!”

I could tell my singing in the school’s talent show wasn’t going well. My shaky hands and trembling voice sent a clear message that I wished I were already in that faraway room. “Aow wouldn’t it be lover-ly? … Lover-ly, lover-ly,”

When my performance finally ended, the tepid applause confirmed my singing was anything but loverly.

“If only I could rewind the clock,” I thought.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could go back in time to change some of our choices? My decision to sing in the talent show was a minor one, especially when compared to the more serious choices we make. Think of those that cue “I should have …” or “I wish I hadn’t …” playing in our minds every time we recall our foolish behavior.

At the time, it seemed worth the risk to date that person who lived by different morals, tell that lie to a parent or spouse, or steal that money from the office’s petty cash. Only later, we experienced torment when we realized our actions grieved our heavenly Father and strained the relationships of those who used to have no trouble believing the best about us.

This week’s verse is not a pleasant one to envision. However, I hope its visual will be effective.

Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly. Proverbs 26:11 ESV.

Imagining a dog returning to his vomit is no fun – much less, actually watching a dog doing it. Yet, how often do people watch us return to our folly, over and over again?

What if we were to paraphrase Proverbs 26:11 to say, “When I don’t learn from my mistakes (when I repeatedly choose to mess up my life with sinful and/or destructive choices), I am like a dog returning to his vomit.”

Would this help us rethink our decisions?

Proverbs 26:11 is not my favorite verse. But if I allow the Holy Spirit to use its disgusting visual to keep me from repeating my sinful choices, it could well become one of my favorites – or at least, most effective – verses.

Let’s rewind the memory of our bad choices and ask God to help us repent and make wiser choices going forward.

Wouldn’t this be better than giving another encore of a bad performance?

What do you think?

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this post. (Others might also benefit from your comment.)

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