Proverbs 26:11: Returning to Your Folly

"Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly."

Have you ever seen a dog vomit, only to return to eating it back up again? It's kind of gross, is it not? Or perhaps you have seen a dog defecate,* only to return to munching on what just came out of his body. Are you absolutely grossed out yet? Good--because that's how we should feel about our sin when we turn back to it as well.

In Proverbs 26:11, Solomon gives us the exact same picture that I just gave to you above: a dog returning to its vomit. It's gross, it's disgusting, and it's probably quite unhealthy, but that's the point. What Solomon is trying to get across here is that gross, disgusting, and unhealthy picture of a dog returning to its vomit is exactly what is happening to us when we return to our sin: "Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly."

But how often do we actually view our sin like this? So often, the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin (such as idolatry, anger, anxiety, sexual impurity, and selfishness for a few examples), and after stopping it for a moment, we go right back to it. Perhaps we give it up for a minute, an hour, a day, or even a week, but we end up right back to where we once were. We vomit up our sin, only to return to swallowing it back up. This is gross, disgusting, and unhealthy, but we all do it each and every day.

But how do we stop returning to our vomit of sin? Well, I believe that the answer is given to us in this very passage. Instead of seeing our sin as delightful and full of pleasure, we ought to see it for what it is: gross, disgusting, and unhealthy vomit. Rather than letting sin deceive us into thinking that it is the right way, we ought to remember and take hold of God's promises that his way is better in all circumstances (see Hebrews 11:24-25). We ought to look at God's promises and commands as the gold, silver, and precious gems that they are, and look at sin as the vomit, excrement, and (as the British would say) rubbish that it truly is. Then, and only then, will we cease to be fools that return to their vomit.

So, how are you going to work on hating your sin in this next week? Let me lay before you a challenge this week (It's Monday, the beginning of the work week, a great day to start a challenge!). Choose a sin, any sin, that you know is in your life, and pray to God each day for seven days straight that he would teach you how to hate that sin and see it for what it really is. If you do so sincerely, I promise that God will start answering that prayer, and that your draw to that sin will be less and less every day. Amen.

*No one uses this word, but I was trying to keep the word "poop" out of my devotional. Enjoy.