Sticky Grenades
In World War II the allied forces invented a weapon known as the “sticky grenade.” It was designed so that it would stick to anything. The idea was that it would stick and then blow up. The problem was it tended to stick to the person trying to throw it!
The Bible story of Haman’s Noose” is like that. Haman was a high official in ancient Persia who hated Mordecai, a simple Jew who would not honor him. To get even with Mordecai, he had a 75′ high gallows made so he could have him hanged on it. (Esther 5:14)
Two chapters later the Bible tells us, “They hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.” (7:10) Haman’s Noose turned into a “Sticky Grenade” that blew up on him.
The Bible warns us that what we do can come back to haunt us. Hosea 8:7 warns that people, “Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.” In a similar vein, Ecclesiastes 10:8 says, “Whoever digs a pit may fall into it; whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.”
You are not going to build a 75′ high gallows, but any lashing out at another person can lead you to your own gallows, your own “sticky grenade.”
A few years back the Tokyo police reported the arrest of a man who was upset over being denied entrance to graduate school 14 years earlier. Since the day he was denied entrance he averaged making 10 phone calls a night, between the hours of 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. Every call was to the professor whom he blamed for his lost opportunity. Those 14 years of annoying phone calls totaled up to over 50,000 calls! Who was hurt? Of course the professor was annoyed, but the man obsessed with a presumed wrong wasted 14 years of his life. What goes around comes around.
How do I know? The Bible tells me so. “If a man digs a pit, he will fall into it; if a man rolls a stone, it will roll back on him.” (Proverbs 26:27)
So, for your own good, be careful not to lash out at others.
~Lonnie Davis