When you study the Bible, you can check the verses where certain words appear to develop a topical lesson.  One such word that lends itself well to a topical study is the word “mischief.”  Mischief is a specific injury or damage caused by a person or other agency; a cause or source of harm, evil or irritation.  As you look up the references, you see how mischief comes forth and what it does to a person.  Concerning mischief, people: 

Imagine mischief – Ps 140:2 – mischief starts in your imagination.  You just imagine what you could do to another person to harm them, to injure them or to  irritate them.  In Ps 62:3, you see that men imagine mischiefs against a man.  In Hos 7:15, they imagine mischief against God.  The place to cut off mischief is at this stage, before it goes any further.  Quit thinking about it.

Conceive mischief – Is 59:4, Job 15:35 – it goes from the imagination into the conception where it brings forth iniquity.  At this point, they’re cooking up a scheme and mischief takes over from here.  Once the mischief is conceived, it is like a pregnancy.  It is going to come forth.

Seek mischief – Prov 11:27 –  at this stage, you are seeking a way to make the mischief you have conceived happen.  Like Ps 36:4 says, “he deviseth mischief upon his own bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.”  You are determined to do something about what you have imagined.

Talk of mischief – Prov 24:2 – see also Ps 52:1-2.  This is the time when you begin to talk over your plans with another person or with other people.  It is so dominant in your heart that you can hardly resist talking about it.  That’s because “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”  Amnon talked with his first cousin, Jonabab, about his mischief that he was seeking against Tamar.  He wanted to lie with her but couldn’t quite figure out how to make it happen.  This is a common scenario for young people.  They talk about their mischiefs and others help them figure out how to fulfill their lusts.

Run to mischief – Prov 6:18 – The Lord hates feet that are swift in running to mischief.  These days, teenagers, for instance, have mischief in mind and when the opportunity arises they just run to it.  They don’t stop to think about anything but the mischief they have devised.  They are impatient; they get carried away with it.  They take no thought for the consequences.  

Do mischief – Prov 10:23 – Once they get to the place where they can do what they have run to do, they do it.  Often you find that you’re now doing something that you said you would never do.  You’re drinking, doing drugs, fornicating, stealing, or what ever.  And when you were younger, you said to yourself that you would never do these things. 

Practice mischief – 1 Sam 23:9 – Saul practiced mischief against David.  He couldn’t stop himself.  Though he repented more than once, he still relentlessly pursued David.  His mischief became habitual.  He started justifying himself.  When you get into mischief, it takes over and now you’ll never quit.  The thought becomes an action and the acton becomes a habit. 

Frame mischief – Ps 94:20 – in this country, all those mischiefs that were once illegal are now legal.  We have legalized dope, fornication, homosexuality, abortion, and so forth.  Those who imagined and conceived and did these mischiefs are in positions of authority to legalize them.  And so now there is no restraint.  

Conclusion: Ps 7:16 says, “his mischief shall return upon his own head.”  The mischief we have legalized will destroy this country and the people in it.  If you don’t want to go down with mischief, then stop it at the very first stage, in your imagination.