It is a “law” that is not encoded or inscripturated, such as “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” But it is a “law” nonetheless, written with indelible ink in the crucible of life on a long line of lives throughout history. It is the “law” of unintended consequences. One is reminded of it in the words of Solomon: “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 16:25)
The law stated: “Sometimes actions or plans of action that seem right have undesirable consequences that were unintended.”
The law illustrated: Sarah, Abraham and Hagar, Gen. 16:5; both Abraham and Isaac, representing their wives as sisters when in Egypt and Gerar (Gen. 12 & 26); Lot’s daughters with their father, Gen. 19:34; Saul’s sparing the best of the sheep and oxen (I Sam. 15); King David’s numbering of the people. (I Chr. 21:1ff.)
These are just a few familiar examples from scripture of how this law played out in the lives of those whose records were preserved for our learning and admonition. I did not expand on any of them, as I believe most will readily recognize the biblical accounts; or, if not, can read them with the references provided.
The law applied:
(1) A church leader agrees to counsel a woman alone—without her husband present—in order to comfort and guide her through a difficult marriage crisis. Before long, the counselor and counselee find that an emotional bond has developed between the two of them. They “fall in love,” and both leave their spouses against the pleading of their friends, pastors, and others.
(2) A woman takes a job outside the home to supplement the family income; she does well and is promoted. Her boss compliments her work and personal qualities—something her husband hardly ever does. Over time, the two develop an unhealthy relationship with each other, which leads to the dissolution of each of their marriages.
(3) A couple with two pre-teens feels they need a church with a better youth program for their kids; they leave the church where they had been members for several years, and where dedicated teachers and faithful pastors had diligently taught their youth. They join a bigger church, with a more active program for young people, only to discover—too late—that the church they joined has a carnal youth program with few standards.
(4) A Christian husband and wife become disenchanted with their pastor and, over the course of months, they become bitter. They openly and frequently criticize him in front of their children; yet, because of friends—and their loyalty to the church they had attended for years—they choose not to leave the church, nor to meet with the pastor personally. They fail to see the impact of their actions until their children are grown and married—and neither of them attends a church.
(5) You desire to spend just $1 a week on buying a lottery ticket. You could use the jackpot money to get out of debt. Within a few months, you are spending $5 a week, then $20. You’ve eventually spent thousands of dollars—before realizing the foolish error of wasting money that could have been spent to meet real family needs, or to assist others who were genuinely needy.
(6) Your boss wants you to work Wednesday nights; it’s optional but it’s also time-and-a-half. You will hate to miss prayer meeting, but the bigger paycheck is tempting, so you agree to it for a limited time. More than two years later, you are still working Wednesday nights—but now it’s Sunday nights as well.
(7) A man on a business trip decides he is far enough away from home that he can go with his buddies to a nightclub, just for a Coke, and ignore the surroundings. While there he accepts a challenge to take a drink of liquor. One leads to two, and you can guess the outcome. He loses his head, his good sense, and his testimony that night.
(8) A young couple yields to their passions, and they do what they had promised themselves they would never do until they became one in marriage. They feel disgusted, guilty, and unclean the first time. The second time, the feeling of guilt is there again, but their uneasiness does not last as long. Before long, the couple is regularly violating God’s moral standards of purity. Nothing really bad has happened to them and, after all, they “love” each other. Everything seems to go well until one day the girl awakes from a fitful night of sleep “very, very sick….”
(9) Distraught with public schools, you pull your children out of the public school system and put them in a Christian school. Before long, your children tell you horror stories about the behavior and after-school lifestyle of some of their Christian school class-mates. Your teenager wants to attend some of the parties and dances with friends in the Christian school—kids whose parents are teachers and church leaders. You debate what to do: pull your student out of the Christian school and re-enroll him/her in the public school—or leave them in the Christian school, reasoning that it is at least better than the public school, not realizing that leaving them in a watered-down Christian school may well produce adults that will be “watered-down” Christians.
Any similarities in these scenarios to people you know (or have known) is strictly coincidental. These are solely hypothetical situations, designed to stimulate one’s thinking about the unwritten “law of unintended consequences.” Selah.
“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 14:12)
*I preached the above message (once only) in the pulpit of Thompson Road Baptist Church in Indianapolis more than 30 years ago.
YOU and GOD 