"Vomit"    

            Little girls used to say that boys were “gross.” Their idea was that boys thrived on talking about and delving into things that were repulsive and sickening. There are likely some adult women today who would heartily “amen” this sentiment even for their grown, adult husbands.

            The Bible can also be “gross.” Lest we think of the Word of God incorrectly, it should be noted that by being TRUTH, the Bible is obliged to, “tell it all,” (John 17:17). And the Bible does – regularly and often.

            One verbal image the Holy Spirit inspired men to use to convey God’s mind is, “vomit.” Evidently, there are things that are sickening to God, and graphically so.

            First, in Revelation 3:16, the Lord addresses the lukewarm congregation at Laodicea. The image is unmistakable:  “So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” We are to rightly conclude from this that God is sickened at the presence of lukewarmness in the church of Christ.

            Lukewarmness is observed as a condition that lacks conviction, passion, or “backbone.” The idea that everything and everybody is ok, that just about anything is acceptable and permissible, and that relativism is the correct path to take in one’s thinking.

            When something is sickening to us as we ingest it, the one sure-fire way to rid ourselves of this nauseating element is to “spew” it out. God says it this way because He understands that we will make the connection. 

            Second, in 2 Peter 2:22, the Bible says, “But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: ‘A dog returns to his own vomit…’” The context of 2 Peter 2 involves those who become Christians and then turn back to the world to live as they did prior to their conversion. To God, this occurrence has the same effect as our seeing a dog eat its own vomit. This imagery also appears in Proverbs 26:11. If it made God sick to see His children go back to the “vomit” of their former ways, it should also sicken us to the same extent.

            Those who fall away from God after having been His child are a source of grief to God (Luke 15:1-ff). They are also a repulsive sight to Him. They are not fit for the kingdom of God in their “lost again” state (Luke 9:62).

            There are other passages that use other metaphors that are just as graphic in depicting God’s displeasure with certain behavior. However, few evoke the bluntness of vomiting or spewing something out of one’s mouth, not to mention the idea of consuming again that which was expelled through this extreme act.

            Language like this dispels the idea that God is somehow passive,  or dispassionate about what goes on in His world. In Luke 16:15, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” God not only cares about human behavior, He is repulsed by many of the things that man thinks is perfectly acceptable. Proverbs 6 is the well-know list of things that God hates. Romans 1 clearly shows God’s disdain of homosexuality. In Psalm 7:11, we read, “God is a just judge, And God is angry with the wicked every day.”

            God is not an imbalanced being such that he only observes that which is good in His creation. Sometimes, parents can be so blind to the faults of their own children that they will defend them even when the child is clearly in the wrong and should be punished. Such was not the case with God and Israel. Neither is it with the Lord and His church.

            In Jeremiah 48:26, God denounces the Moabites. The text says, “Make him drunk, Because he exalted himself against the LORD. Moab shall wallow in his vomit, And he shall also be in derision.” The mental picture of someone wallowing in their own vomit is detestable. Because the people of Moab had rejected God, He promises that they will resemble a drunkard as he miserably lies in a pool of his own regurgitation. Surely the lesson is clear.

            In our study of the Bible, we need to pay close attention to the things God approves, but also to those things that He graphically portrays as repulsive and “gross.” Christians are to be the “fragrance” of Christ, and as such are to reflect that which is sweet and pleasing to God (2 Corinthians 2:14-15). The Bible tells us that this sweetness is what God wishes to “experience” when He observes our lives as His children (Ephesians 5:2; Philippians 4:18). We should make every effort not to sicken our Heavenly Father by behavior that to Him is as “gross” as any we could imagine.