Have you noticed this curious habit of human beings? When facing problems, we often turn to the very thing that caused the problem in the first place.

For example, an alcoholic loses everything because of his addiction. He then turns to alcohol to ease his pain. A woman is sorrowful over her obesity. And yet she turns to food for comfort. A man is depressed over losing his love. And to fill the void, he turns to another woman…

This also applies to nations. We, the U.S., has self-destructed because of greed for money, and yet we are turning to financial resources to solve the problem! I finally understood what this means: “Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.” Prov. 26:11. The dog vomited because the body didn’t need it and yet it turns to it to consume it again! How foolish! And yet we human beings are no different. The very thing that got us in trouble, we turn to get us out of it!

If our disease is greed, more money will not cure it!

This exact scenario is in Jeremiah 44:18. The Prophet Jeremiah tells the people the reason God is punishing them is because they have turned to the idols. And yet these people reason that when they turned to the idols, there was peace and food. When they stopped worshiping those idols, that’s when the disaster struck. So, they will continue to worship idols. But Jeremiah tells them that it was that the Lord was patient with them that the disaster didn’t strike while they were worshiping idols.

So they turned to the very thing for solution that got them into trouble in the first place. “As a dog returns to its own vomit….”

What is the true solution?
It’s not more money.
It’s not a thinner body.
It’s not a better job.
It’s not a different wife/husband.
It’s not a different church or circle of friends.
It’s not even introspection (looking into the self for solution)

It is looking unto God. It is looking to Christ for our worth, meaning, significance, value, and comfort.

Stop looking into yourself. The solution is not there. It is in Christ alone.

PH