"...they will eat the fruit of their ways..."

Continuing to read Proverbs 1:29-33
"...they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes."

You don't plant a fruit tree one day and come out looking for something to eat the next. The fruit is a long time coming, you can grow your trees and see no harvest, you can even enjoy the beautiful blossoms in the spring. One day, though, there it is in all of its abundance. It is this way with the lifestyle we live. If we hated knowledge, chose not to fear God, rejected his advice, and spurned his rebuke, one day the harvest will be there in full fruit. It is too late when you have spent years growing apple trees to decide that you want to eat oranges. So...

"...they will eat the fruit of their ways..." I won't eat the fruit of someone else's way or the fruit of my parents ways or the fruit I have dreamed of eating. I will eat the fruit, and only the fruit, that I have planted and cultivated and waited for. To eat it is to make a meal of it, it is what is on the table, it is what was prepared and it is the only thing that is available now.

Note that "...they will eat the fruit of their ways..." This is about the choices that I've made. It is not about my circumstances, not about how my parents treated me, not about "getting the right breaks." These "ways" are whole patterns of thought and behavior that have become so habitual to me that I no longer reflect on them or even notice them. These are patterns of self-destructive choices. These become the norm for me and doing anything else comes to feel uncomfortable and unreal. Any "way" can become completely normalized, can become a natural part of the system of my life. Only letting God speak continually to my life can illuminate these terrible paths. Only being willing to let God call black, white (because this is how it will seem to me) will start me on the path to change, only careful vigilance will keep me on the right path.

"...and be filled with the fruit of their schemes." "Filled..." It comes to take over everything. The consequences reach into every area of living. This comes to be so even though at first these destructive ways may be kept secret, may be confined to just one area of my life, may not have even begun to touch on my reputation. Seeds are designed to grow. The acorn is not an acorn forever.

Often I will not stop practicing my destructive ways because I am convinced that these ways are really harmless, won't hurt me, or are only hurting me and no one else. The most destructive choices can seem perfectly harmless after they have been practiced for a while.

If I'm going to be the watcher on the wall of my life then I had better be willing to acknowledge where the wall has been breeched, or some day I may find myself completely overwhelmed by the enemy. God is extending himself to spare me from all of this. Do I want His help?