Proverbs 26:11
“As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.”
One of the more disgusting things that dogs do when their stomach gets upset and they vomit is that they will return to eat their own disgusting vomit. Why the dog does something like this is beyond my imagination. I have never seen a human want to have a bowl of their own vomit to eat. In fact, if I served a dish of someone’s vomit to them, they would look at me as if I was deranged because of how sickening that would be.
Sadly, there are many people who seem to eat their own vomit. The verse above says that the fool returning to his folly is no different from a dog eating its own vomit. The fool is the one who never learned their lesson the first time or has forgotten the lesson they learned and returned back to the folly that hurt them in the first place. My friend, why would you eat that which hurt your life? Why would you return to the foolishness that hurt you in the first place? I find some areas where people tend to return to the vomit that made them sick the first time to their own hurt.
First, don't eat the vomit of the world. When you got saved, you got saved from the vomit of the world’s lifestyle that destroyed you. Have you forgotten what the world did to you before you got saved? The world has not changed for good since you got saved. Going back to the world after you are saved will bring the same heartache that it did before, but greater regret because you forsook your God who saved you from sin and the world’s grip on your life.
Second, don't eat the vomit of your sin. Some never learn the lessons that sin caused in their life. Many have found themselves like the Prodigal son looking at the slop their life got them in, yet they never break the habit of going back to that sin. It is wonderful that you got right with God, but stay right with God instead of going back to that same sin every time you get down on life. Going back to the life of sin that hurt you in the past is not going to make your present situation any better. If sin hurt you before, it will hurt you again.
Third, don't eat the vomit of sin that destroyed another person you loved. Just because your parents, pastor, or friend fell into sin does it mean that you should do the same thing. You should have learned from their life the destruction that sin causes. You would never eat someone else’s vomit, so why go to the sin that caused another to fall and destroy their life? Eating the vomit of another’s sinful life is not going to change the disgusting results that their sin causes.
Fourth, don't eat the vomit of bad decisions. Everyone makes bad decisions, but you don't have to go back and make the bad decision again. If a decision you made was a bad decision in the past, it will still be a bad decision today. If you made bad financial decisions in the past, don't make the same decisions today. If you made bad relationship decisions in the past, don't make those same bad decisions today. Bad decisions don't change their result because today is a different day; bad decisions always lead to the same bad results to which they have always led.
My friend, at some point you need to break the habit of going back to the vomit that hurt you. Recognize your bad habits and correct them. Don't be a fool and believe sin’s lies that say it will be different this time; it will not be different.