Today's podcast meditation comes from Galatians 6:7-8, but we jump around quite a bit. Here are the verses discussed:
Galatians 6:7-8 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. (8) For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
Prov 22:9: The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.
Matt 5:7: Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Prov 11:27: He who earnestly seeks good finds favor, But trouble will come to him who seeks evil.
Prov 26:2: Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow,
So a curse without cause shall not alight.
Matthew 7:16: You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
No matter what a man sows, unless something intervenes to interrupt the cycle, more will be produced than was sown.
This does NOT mean that when something bad happens to you, it's necessarily because you earned it or did something evil. (Job's comforters: Job 11-15)
Paul in Acts 27: 14 days at sea in a storm, famished, shipwrecked on an island of barbarians, only to be bitten by a viper… but that wasn't where his story ended (nor was it where Job's story ended). Paul shook off the snake, healed the sick of the land, and they "honored him greatly".
Bad things happen because we live in a fallen world, and because we have an enemy. (And sometimes good things temporarily happen to those who are evil.) But in the long run, this principle will out.
Psalm 27:13: I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
David wrote that, and he went from a shepherd of the fields to the palace (though it took him 17 years on the run to get there).
Thanks to Ben Sound at www.bensound.com for background music.