"I would soon subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their foes. Those Who hate the Lord would cringe toward Him, and their fate would last forever. But He would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you." God (Verses 14-16)
God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. James 4
The little girl down the street lived with her grandmother. Don't remember why her parents weren't around. The child was tiny and her teeth, at four years old, were rotting in her mouth. Unrestrained, Taffy roamed the neighborhood at will, often crossing our rather busy street without looking for cars. Vanessa, our middle child, loved playing with Taffy. Of course, the lack of restrictions on her made the neighbor kid look a lot more inviting. However, I would only let them play at our house where I could watch them. Vanessa knew never to cross that street. Ever! That made the street more inviting to her. A born boundary tester, life on the wild side (the other side of the Rhea Road in this case) just kept drawing her in. As you can guess, I looked up one morning to see the front door thrown open as the two made a quick escape to the unfenced wild outdoors of the front yard and beyond to the middle of Rhea Road. I chased after the blond flopping pigtails of my daughter in hot pursuit. "Vanessa, you come back here right now!"
"Come and get me!" was her hollered reply as she careened out of control both physically and orally. Ew, boy! Doing what she was told she couldn't do trumped the punishment she surely got. For, yes, I did go and get her!
I went and scooped her mutinous body into my arms, told Taffy to go home and took Vanessa inside where...well, you know. Why would I do that? Keep her from her fun? What kind of mother would put such unfair restrictions on her kid? One who loves her child, of course. This mother knew the dangers of the street and the perils of following one who seemed free as a bird off the proverbial cliff. I knew what Vanessa couldn't know. She had to trust that I knew best. On that day and on many to follow. And she couldn't play with Taffy anymore. Though I hurt for the abandoned neighbor child, her grandmother refused to rein her in.
Moses came down from the mountain with ten things the people had to do. Ten things! Too hard. In fact, the ten things people can't do sometimes make them more determined to somehow do them. We don't always need the devil to make us go across the street, so to speak. All we need is for someone to tell us we can't. What does God do with a heart like that? I'm afraid He lets us go. Helps us find out what happens when we simply won't listen to Him. We are free to follow our own counsel after so many rescues and warnings. Getting our own way is often worse than being punished. It serves us right.
"Oh, that my people would listen" is God's heart, however. Because, though He allows us our own path into destruction, God stands ready to rescue us from what He must watch us doing. Satan's will for us is to completely destroy us. To take us to the middle of the street and leave us there as prey for every passing danger. By then, we have defied every restraint that in His love He's called us to obey. Abandoned now at the apex of our futility, horrified to see the oncoming traffic that will be our death, we have a choice. Still. Our God waits upon our hardened heart to mellow in the moment. "Jesus, help me!"
"Finally," breathes our God, then scoops us up in His great mercy. Consequences might still apply. We have, no doubt, been severely wounded in the roadway to hell. But we are alive enough to be a prize to Abba. Because all along what He's wanted to do is give us the very best wheat. Cover us in honey from the Rock. Cradle us in protection under the safety of His wings. But we must listen to God. He's way smarter than we are. His rules aren't arbitrary hindrances to our happiness but the way there.
God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. James 4
The little girl down the street lived with her grandmother. Don't remember why her parents weren't around. The child was tiny and her teeth, at four years old, were rotting in her mouth. Unrestrained, Taffy roamed the neighborhood at will, often crossing our rather busy street without looking for cars. Vanessa, our middle child, loved playing with Taffy. Of course, the lack of restrictions on her made the neighbor kid look a lot more inviting. However, I would only let them play at our house where I could watch them. Vanessa knew never to cross that street. Ever! That made the street more inviting to her. A born boundary tester, life on the wild side (the other side of the Rhea Road in this case) just kept drawing her in. As you can guess, I looked up one morning to see the front door thrown open as the two made a quick escape to the unfenced wild outdoors of the front yard and beyond to the middle of Rhea Road. I chased after the blond flopping pigtails of my daughter in hot pursuit. "Vanessa, you come back here right now!"
"Come and get me!" was her hollered reply as she careened out of control both physically and orally. Ew, boy! Doing what she was told she couldn't do trumped the punishment she surely got. For, yes, I did go and get her!
I went and scooped her mutinous body into my arms, told Taffy to go home and took Vanessa inside where...well, you know. Why would I do that? Keep her from her fun? What kind of mother would put such unfair restrictions on her kid? One who loves her child, of course. This mother knew the dangers of the street and the perils of following one who seemed free as a bird off the proverbial cliff. I knew what Vanessa couldn't know. She had to trust that I knew best. On that day and on many to follow. And she couldn't play with Taffy anymore. Though I hurt for the abandoned neighbor child, her grandmother refused to rein her in.
Moses came down from the mountain with ten things the people had to do. Ten things! Too hard. In fact, the ten things people can't do sometimes make them more determined to somehow do them. We don't always need the devil to make us go across the street, so to speak. All we need is for someone to tell us we can't. What does God do with a heart like that? I'm afraid He lets us go. Helps us find out what happens when we simply won't listen to Him. We are free to follow our own counsel after so many rescues and warnings. Getting our own way is often worse than being punished. It serves us right.
"Oh, that my people would listen" is God's heart, however. Because, though He allows us our own path into destruction, God stands ready to rescue us from what He must watch us doing. Satan's will for us is to completely destroy us. To take us to the middle of the street and leave us there as prey for every passing danger. By then, we have defied every restraint that in His love He's called us to obey. Abandoned now at the apex of our futility, horrified to see the oncoming traffic that will be our death, we have a choice. Still. Our God waits upon our hardened heart to mellow in the moment. "Jesus, help me!"
"Finally," breathes our God, then scoops us up in His great mercy. Consequences might still apply. We have, no doubt, been severely wounded in the roadway to hell. But we are alive enough to be a prize to Abba. Because all along what He's wanted to do is give us the very best wheat. Cover us in honey from the Rock. Cradle us in protection under the safety of His wings. But we must listen to God. He's way smarter than we are. His rules aren't arbitrary hindrances to our happiness but the way there.
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