Psalm 7:14-16 Digging Holes

¹⁴ Whoever is pregnant with evil
    conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment.
¹⁵ Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out
    falls into the pit they have made.
¹⁶ The trouble they cause recoils on them;
    their violence comes down on their own heads.

- Psalm 7: 14-16

The unofficial tagline for my novel Plague of Darkness is that secrets don't stay buried forever. In today's verses, if you dig a large enough hole, you end up stuck in it like Mike Mulligan and his trusty steam shovel Maryanne, or at the very least at some point you will fall back into it. The latter is usually what we end up doing as humans. There's accountability for every action we perform, good or bad, and whether we think we've hidden it or not. We spend so much energy hiding stuff we've done, yet God knows and will hold us accountable at some point. In the meantime, these secrets hold us back as weights that preventing us from accomplishing so much of the amazing stuff we're capable of in life.

To free ourselves of the yoke, or burden, our own actions, to break bad habits and patterns in our lives, we need others brought into the game. After years of trying to quit smoking, I succeeded only when I told others what I was doing, and asked them to keep me honest. Being reminded that what we do has an impact on other people is a strong deterrent to bad behavior.

Trying to hide our secrets also opens the door for our spiritual enemy to work against us. Most major church movements start out humbly doing the work of the Spirit. At some point, if we're not careful the enemy will do what he always does: get us to undo everything by ourselves. How many pastors have had affairs that toppled their congregations? How many growing churches become concerned more about money and appearances than the people stepping through the doors? A lot of these holes can be avoided by putting guardrails in place, not least of which is being open and transparent with other leaders and the congregation.

Everything we do, in one way or another, builds up or tears down the kingdom of God. There might be a middle road, a "lukewarm" approach (Rev 3:16) which neither helps nor hinders, but that's another discussion. The concept of karma isn't necessarily biblical but this verse definitely alludes to the idea that everything we do comes back to us as good "fruit" the Spirit, building the kingdom of God through the love we share, or repercussions of the bad which we spend too much energy hiding from others.

Live in prayer, be open and share life with others who will keep us accountable, and in doing so, keep the enemy, and us, from hampering Jesus' work on this Earth.

Prayer

Lord, any time I'm tempted to push an action or decision under the rug, remind me of the hole this creates in my life, one that I, and others, will inevitably fall into later. Thank you for the people in my life that I can trust, and be accountable to.