September 28 - Judges 1:6

Adoni-bezek fled;

but they pursued him,

and caught him, and

cut off his thumbs and big toes.

Judges 1:6

 

In my daily reading I came across this unsettling verse -- unsettling enough that I was tempted to switch to an alternative ... Galatians 6:7, for example: "Remember ... you will always reap what you sow!"

 

My guess, however, is that most of us don't like that verse much better. We want to reap better than we sow. We want blessings without costs or discipline.

 

You would expect the toe-less king, Adoni-bezek, to be angry in his response. Instead, he was reflective and chastened. "7 Adoni-bezek said, 'Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has paid me back.'"

 

I tend to think than "reaping what we sow" is usually more logic and Biblical wisdom than divine judgment and retribution. But today think for a minute about what you'd rather not reap and be repaid in your life ... and resolve to sew a little more faith, hope, and love.

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who's lucky he still has his tongue

(how many of us haven't wounded with our words?)