Consequences flow from our actions. If I stuff myself with junk food while watching videos on the couch night after night after night, my weight will soar and my health will crater. No one escapes the natural results of a sedentary, prepackaged lifestyle.

So why are we surprised when our experiences with the Lord follow similar routes? David recorded these thoughts after his deliverance from his enemies:

To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.

God responds with deep consideration to those who follow him and apply his ways to their lives. This passage stands as a wonderful promise for all who humbly bow before the Lord.

But to the devious—the wicked—the Lord reveals a different side. In this case shrewd means the Lord acts just as deviously toward those who live that way. He responds in kind, letting their actions boomerang back to them. They receive the just desserts for their choices.

Not that the devious ever ask, but this passage makes for a good conversation starter. Like a steady diet of Twinkies and Mountain Dew, eventually the hateful choices of the devious rule their lives.

Psalm 18 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Josh McLain