Things that don't stick

Some things just don’t stick. Dr. Davis has told me on a few occasions to call him “Clair,” and it works for a few minutes. But the next time I see him, I always revert to “Dr. Davis.” Example 2: For many years I kept trying to fix the wooden legs that popped out of the kitchen chairs by using the glue with the cow logo on it, rather than something like Liquid Nails. The legs would stay in place for a while but always eventually came undone.

There are other kinds of things that don’t stick.

God told his new people Israel that if they didn’t obey Him, the land He gave them would eventually spit them out. They didn’t obey Him wholeheartedly for centuries, and it looked like they were getting away with it: They still had the land. But finally in 586 B.C. and 722 B.C., respectively, the Assyrian and Babylonian kings came and expelled the Israelites from their own real estate. Some principles of God take a while to work, but even when they seem to be delayed, there is always something going on in the invisible dimension that will come to light when you least expect it.

Throw a ball in the air, and if you take a picture of it in mid-flight, it looks like it has escaped the law of gravity. But it’s a very temporary escape indeed. There are embedded laws in God’s creation, both in the physical and spiritual realms, and they are so sure that you can take them to the bank.

I know of a tragic situation in which a woman and a man left their spouses to marry each other. This is a violation of God’s law, but they seemed to be getting away with it for a long time. I saw photos of their early lives together. They were in love, they were prosperous, and one could not even imagine at that point a scenario that could spoil it; disaster was a remote possibility. They had even convinced themselves that they had God’s blessing.

But the laws of God are like a boomerang that, when hurled, sails for a long time in one direction, but then mysteriously begins to turn—we know not how. A series of events developed that began to unravel the well-thought-out plans of the man and woman who believed they were free and clear of consequences of their woeful choice. When I saw the outcome of their lives I was full of fear of the Lord. An alliance outside the will of God is like a badly mended table leg: It doesn’t stick.