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Have It Your Way


But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you— when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you. Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me. Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD, since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.  (Proverbs 1:28-33) 

            When you get a chance, you should compare this passage with Romans 1:18-32. This is the gentle version of the warning found there. Some might think of it as karma, but it's much worse. With karma, if you kick the dog, someone is likely to steal your car or you'll come down with pneumonia and lose your job and you best friend will run away with your spouse all in one week. Solomon does mention something like karma in this passage. He wrote about calamity overtaking, disaster sweeping over, distress and trouble overwhelming. That might be said to be karma. In reality, it's discipline. The goal is to cause you to learn, to grow wise. But Solomon continues (and Paul echoes) with what is worse than karma. The horror is not that the person who kicks the dog will get sick and have bad things happen to him. The horror is that the person who kicks the dog will go from bad to worse, perhaps stealing from an employer, then cheating on a spouse, then hitting that spouse in a drunken rage, then making a habit of drinking and abuse, eventually killing someone as a drunk driver. It's a different progression for each person but the horror is not that bad things will happen to a person who does something bad, but that the person find himself unable to stop being bad.
            C. S. Lewis has a quotes that describe this. The first is "There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, 'All right, then, have it your way.'"

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