When people rile us, it is easy to vent at them with the taunt, “Turnabout is fair play.” At other times, we jokingly tease, suggesting that a prank is on the way.
What we mean is that we now have the right to do unto them as they have done unto us. If they have bent the rules in a game, we now have the right to cheat in the same manner. If a prank has been played, another is about to be sprung. If meanness has transpired, the anger is still alive and well.
And if we love someone? Is turnabout still fair play? Or if we don’t love someone? How does that play out?
Zechariah 7:8-14 reveals the Word of the Lord as he instructs his children, telling them first to love their brothers; also to give generously to the fatherless, the widow, the poor, and the stranger; and, finally, to not imagine evil against others.
Yet, the people refused to listen, and with their hard hearts came turnabout as fair play. God refused to hear their prayers, and the people were scattered unto desolation.
Turnabout love. The people refused to love those whom God wanted loved, and in turn, God refused to love his people.
Whom have we refused to love? Our society has programs in place to help the needy. WIC. Medicaid. Food stamps. It’s all there.
Yet.
What about our sibling struggling with addiction? Our nephew working two jobs to attend college? Our ex-sister-in-law’s fight to get the child support she deserves? Our elderly parent’s struggle to pay the light bill?
Turnabout love. The people refused to love those whom God wanted loved, and in turn, God refused to love his people.
When we show love to the needy among us, we trigger God’s love toward us. God will reward us with a far greater outpouring than we could ever give away.
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