Proverbs 26:27. Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling.
Solomon is painting two pictures here of the hateful person (we talked about hate yesterday). In the first picture, the hateful person digs a pit so that her enemy will fall into it, but then she falls into her own pit. In the second picture, the hateful person is rolling a heavy stone up a hill to crush his enemy, but then the heavy stone rolls back on top of himself, crushing him instead of the person he hates.
Now I doubt any of us have dug any pits lately or tried to roll heavy stones up hills so that we can hurt the people that we dislike. But maybe we have tried to dig those metaphorical pits, and roll those metaphorical stones in attempts to trap or crush others.
Can you think of anything you’ve done recently to hurt someone that you are angry at? Did it hurt them or did it hurt you? Be honest.
The theological lesson of this proverb is that God doesn’t let people get away with hateful things. At times it might seem like he does, but he doesn’t. Sometimes justice comes, not when God digs the pit, but when he lets the hater dig a pit that she will then fall into herself. Or when God lets him roll a stone that will roll backwards and crush him under the weight of his own hate. God doesn’t stop hate before it happens. That much is obvious. But in the end God’s justice is always satisfied.
This principle is found all over the stories of the Bible. The wicked royal advisors that wanted Daniel in the lion’s den ended up in the lion’s den themselves. Wicked Haman built torture devices for the Jews, only to die on his own device.
Of course, the biggest example of this proverb is the Devil himself. The pit he dug for Christ was and is his own death trap. Satan worked so hard to get Jesus on that cross and into that tomb. A large stone was even rolled in front of it. But what would crush Jesus’ heal would crush Satan’s head. Yes, the cross killed Jesus for three days, but it destroyed Satan forever and ever! The stone that was rolled over the tomb, rolled over sin, death, and the grave. Death killed death. Sin killed sin.
How? Because the cross of Christ was the suspension of God’s justice. Righteousness was condemned. Innocence was guilty. Life died. Jesus fell into a pit he did not dig. Christ was crushed by a stone he did not roll. Justice was postponed for Jesus for six hours on the cross so that condemnation might be extinguished for us forever.
Praise God justice was served for Jesus three days later. On that glorious Easter morning Jesus was brought forth from the pit of sin and death. He was vindicated forever by the Father. Exonerated by his righteous life. God was just and the justifier (Rom. 3:26). Just in his resurrection of the righteous Son, and the justifier of all who would have faith in Christ.
What does all this have to do with our hate? Everything? How can someone who deserves God’s hatred, yet daily receives his grace and love, hate those who are trapped by their own hate? Hate doesn’t hurt we who are in Christ, only if we let it. Hate hurts the hater. Hurt people, hurt people. But the goodness and grace of Christ in us can fill in the pit of anger and roll back the crushing stone of hate.
You: Have you ever been crushed by your own hate?
You in Christ: How does our gracious justice in Christ allow us to replace hate with love?
Christ in you: Where do you need to reverse course on hateful pit digging, or hateful stone rolling? How can trusting Jesus allow you to leave things in the hands of God?
Pray: Father, you are the justifier of all who trust in your Son. Let this truth remove the hate from my heart and replace it with your grace and goodness.
To Live is Christ 