Get Wisdom Proverbs 20:17

“When you choose to sin, you choose to suffer.” – James MacDonald. Let’s talk about this.
Our verse for today is Proverbs 20:17. It says, “Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel.” This goes along with that quote I shared. When we choose to sin, it only leads to suffering. Even if it doesn’t seem like it, there are always consequences for going against God’s way.
Gaining things by deceit? That’s stealing. When I was younger, I would go into the local McDonald’s where my friends worked. We’d just give them a head nod and go sit down, and then my friends would just bring out free food. Managers can make this decision, but workers don’t have this privilege. That was stealing. That food was gained by deceit. Sometimes it can feel good in the moment, but there’s always a consequence whether you see it or not.

This makes me think of Joshua. Joshua was the leader of the Israelites after Moses. God told Joshua he was going to lead them into the Promised Land. After the battle of Jericho, God told Joshua to command the Israelites not to take anything from the city. But somebody didn’t listen and took valuables from the city that they weren’t supposed to take in secret. Well, they went to fight their next battle against a smaller army, and they should have easily won, but they didn’t. They lost miserably, so the Israelites were asking God, “Hey, what happened?” And the LORD told them that his commandment had been broken, so Joshua had to figure out who had stolen, and then he put that man and his family to death. That stolen stuff probably felt good in the moment, but it ended up stealing his life. Sin has consequences.
It’s so important for us to understand that sin, whether it’s stealing or sexual immorality, or whatever, it might feel great in the moment, but the consequences will catch up eventually. I want to encourage you to not just have short-term thinking about what feels good right now. Instead, let’s have long-term thinking. How will our choices affect us later? Let’s trust the LORD, and choose to do the right thing.