Truth or Consequences

Years ago when I was a kid there was an old television show that we watched called “Truth or Consequences.” It was hosted by Bob Barker and the premise of the show was that Bob would ask the contestant a quiz question and if the contestant answered correctly he could win a prize, however, if they answered incorrectly a buzzer would sound and they would have to pay the consequence. Usually the consequence was having to do some sort of silly stunt, which was entertaining and funny. At the end of every episode Bob Barker would sign off by saying, I’m Bob Barker and here’s hoping all your consequences are happy ones.”

            It would be a pleasant reality if all consequences were happy ones but, as you know that is not the reality in life. Many consequences of life are difficult and hard to bear. This truth about life makes it imperative that we think about what we do and weight the possible outcomes for our actions. Unfortunately human nature is such that we often act impetuously and selfishly desiring to gratify the worldy appetites of life without thinking about the long-term consequence that might be the cost. To make matters worse we often fail to see that our act of selfishness sometimes brings a cost to bear for generations beyond our own.  This principle also works in reverse.  When we do acts of righteousness and deeds that bless the lives of others the reward we receive is often a blessing upon ourselves and sometimes even blessings that extend to our children and our grandchildren.

The Bible has much to say about this truth.  Galatians 6:7: Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth unto his own flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth unto the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap eternal life.  The beginning principle of this verse is one of sobering judgment. God is not mocked. God is sovereign and his word is everlasting.  When God pronounces something as sin than it is so. We as mortals can accept the reality of that and therefore bring our lives into conformity with that truth or we can ignore God’s word, rail against it’s truth and go our merry way deceiving ourselves into thinking that there will be no real consequence for ignoring God’s will. The result of coarse is the consequence of our choices almost always brings upon us the bitter harvest. The inevitable reaping of what was sown. 

I have observed this principle lived out in my own life as well as watching it lived out in the lives of friend and family and I must say that God’s word holds true in every case that I have been able to observe. Let us consider for a moment the bible story of Cain and Abel. Gen 4:3-15. Both young men decided to offer a sacrifice of worship to God using the first fruits of their possession in offering.  Abel gave an animal sacrifice offering the first fruits of his flock and the fat thereof, which is to say the best that he had.  Cain however gave an offering of the fruit of the ground, which was some part of his harvest; he was as the bible said a tiller of the ground. God however accepted Abel’s offering, the KJV version renders it “ had respect unto Abel and his offering.” Evidently both young men had been taught the proper way to sacrifice unto God, but Cain’s offering God had no respect for because it was not made in the proper way and perhaps without the proper attitude. God says to Cain (from the NIV) Gen 4:7 “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

            Is this not the dilemma that we all face at times? God’s word tells us plainly what we should do to please him and thus be blessed in our lives but somehow we chafe at God’s plan for us and believe that somehow what we desire, indeed what we think is a better alternative to God’s way will work just as well. God warned Cain that he could be accepted too if he chose to do right but If he failed to do what was right “Sin croucheth at the door.” Of coarse we remember the rest of that story. Because of his jealousy and rage Cain killed his brother and thus committed the first recorded murder in history and thus brought judgment on himself the consequences of which lasted through generations of his family. When the Lord pronounced judgment on Cain. Cain protested in Gen 4:13 “ My punishment is more than I can bear!” The Lord then put a mark on Cain and a curse on all who would harm him to protect him and Cain became a wanderer, driven from the lord’s presence to the land of Nod.

            Isn’t Cain’s reaction sometimes the reaction we have to our own consequences in life? Sometimes we are tempted to shake our fist at God and declare that God is unjust. That his standards of life are too hard to live by and that somehow we should be spared from bearing the consequence of our own sin. It’s always someone else’s fault if not God then some other person surely not ourselves. Sometimes we confuse God’s forgiveness of our sin with the expectation that forgiveness means we get to skip out on the consequence for our sins. It’s kind of like in the little children’s game of kings X. If we do the right thing and repent and ask god for forgiveness than that means that we are expecting God will then just somehow magically make all things better and create a do over and put everything that is broken back into order. Sometimes what is broken cannot be put back in order. Humpty Dumpty cannot be put back together again as in the nursery rhyme. In those times how do we act? What do we do?

            I am not speaking here of eternal consequences. God has provided ways that all who come to him in humble repentance and obedience through Christ can escape the eternal consequence of sin. Romans 5:8: “But God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, shall we be saved from the wrath of God through him.” I am speaking about the consequences that we may yet have to bear beyond repentance.

            King David found that his sin with Bathsheba had consequences beyond his own life when he sinned in committing adultery with her. As a direct result of his sin David bore great sorrow and the pain of knowing that what he was to witness later in the destruction of his own family came by his own hand.  11 Samuel 12:7 “Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; and I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added unto thee such and such things. Therefore hast thou despised the word of Jehovah, to do that which is evil in his sight? Thou hast smitten Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thy house, because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house; and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against Jehovah. And Nathan said unto David, Jehovah also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.”

David repented of his sin and felt great sorrow and regret that he had sinned against Jehovah and thus Jehovah God forgave him of his secret sin but as we can see David still had to bear the consequence of his own evil actions. God can help us bear these heavy burdens but we must take the example of David when he prayed and fasted for the illegitimate child he had conceived with Bathsheba. He prayed that the lord would spare the child but upon receiving the news that the child was dead David humbly accepted the will of God in this matter. He washed, changed his clothes and went into the house of the lord and worshipped. David realized he could not change the past only learn from it and try to make his future choices more aligned with the will of God. So it is with our own lives. Our choices can affect our lives and those we love. It’s a sobering reality and one worth thinking about.

Psalm 51:7-13 “Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones, which thou hast broken, may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.”