Pitfalls and Rolling Stones

 

We observe it over and over again.  The person who lays a trap or devises to harm another gets caught by the very device he sought to use.  As the writer of Proverbs puts it, “Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein:  and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.”  The amusing antics of the coyotes and road runner in the children’s cartoons are a humorous demonstration of the very point under discussion.  The coyote will dig a pit to catch the bird, only to fall into it himself.  He will stand upon a hill with a boulder, launch the boulder down the slope to crush the bird; the bird will escape, and the rock will hit a distant ramp only to land behind the coyote and shortly thereafter roll over him. We laugh at the poetic justice as the cartoonists’ drawing it out before us, but the Scripture also shows us, in a very serious way, the spiritual truth regarding this phenomenon.

There are many who devised to harm others and got caught in their own trap.  Haman is perhaps the foremost of them all, in the Scriptures.  He planned the extermination of the Jews in general and built the gallows for Mordecai in particular.  He “dug the pit” and “rolled the stone.”  In a most humanly amazing turn of events, Esther, the newly installed queen, intercedes for her people, Mordecai preserves the King’s life, receives his honor.  Haman is first humiliated, and then hanged on the gallows prepared for Mordecai.  The Jews then destroy those who had thought to destroy them.

How is it that these remarkable events occur?  They happened by the hand of the sovereign God. The same God whose unseen hand guided the events of the life of Esther, and company, guides the events of your life as well.

This is both a warning to the deviser of schemes, and a comfort to the innocent person.  Live by the sword and you will die by it.  Dig pits for others, and you will fall in them yourself.  Roll a stone and watch out for it will be back to get you.  Live before God with humble, childlike trust in Christ, and you will see those who attempt your harm caught by their own devices, time and time again.

Where the Bush is Burning
Tomm Tice