Chuck and I have given our children rules and boundaries that they know they have to live by. We have given them these, not because we are control freaks and preventers of anything "fun" but, because we know these rules and boundaries will keep them safe and will allow them to live a rich and fulfilling life without the risk of great harm to themselves and to others.
Breaking the rules comes with a price. Our children have been fully warned of the consequences of breaking the rules. They have been made fully aware of the price that their act (or acts) of disobedience will cause. Despite this warning they can sometimes tend to push the limits, to stretch those boundaries, to test the patience's, gentleness, and the compassion of Chuck and I as their father and mother. Sometimes their desire is to live outside of our established boundaries and within their own set of rules. Yet, they still want to enjoy the benefits that we, their parents, provide for them.
What they can't see are all the danger's that possibly lie outside of the rules and boundaries that they would set. They only see rainbows and sunshine, smiles and freedom. We see the storm clouds that lie ahead. We see the severe thunderstorms – storms that would send trees and power lines down upon their newly paved paths in life. Things that would stop them and possibly hurt them. But no matter how much we warn them, how much we explain that we know and understand more because we have experience in life. Sometimes they just can't (or won't) see, won't trust us and eventually will cross the line of no return.
What awaits them on the other side of disobedience is justice. We still love them. We still have compassion and a desire for them to return to their lives lived within the safety of our rules and boundaries. The thing is we know that they need to learn from this mistake or they will surely make it again. All the warnings, all the consequences that we have laid out before them in the past will now be given to them. The full price of their disobedience is now on their shoulders. Punishment is handed down to them to bear. They thought their boundaries were small before, now they start to feel as if there is barely enough room to move – they feel captive.
Part of the problem is the storm clouds of their disobedient choices still lie ahead in their future. They haven't arrived yet. So, they mistakenly think that we are crazy. That we truly are parents that are nothing more then control freaks that don't desire them to enjoy anything good in life. We become the mean parents.
Sometimes their punishment is to simply let them feel the full brunt of the storm that is headed their way. To let them learn the hard and much more painful way. As a parent it can be very difficult to do this but it is so necessary in order for them to learn to trust us and to see the importance of our rules and boundaries in their lives.
At other times we know that the storm that lies ahead is a hurricane that will completely destroy them. We have to step in and stop them. We have to punish them and remove them from the harm that is coming. This is when our children truly think that we don't love them. They think we are heartless. They don't see compassion, love, gentleness, patience, or forgiveness. They think those things are gone because their stubborn, pride-filled hearts still don't fully understand what lies ahead and they can't see everything that we have and are doing for their benefit (protection).
This is exactly what we are seeing in our reading today in Jeremiah 13:1-14:18. God appears to no longer have compassion on his children. His punishment seems harsh and heavy handed. He seems like a Father who is filled with nothing but anger, out to destroy those he calls his own. But he is still the very same God he always has been and always will be.
"And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation." Exodus 34:6-7
There is a storm on the horizon of Israel's wicked and it is unlike any that has been seen. It is the full wrath of God. Sin cannot remain in the presence of a Holy God. What his children deserved was complete annihilation. But because God is loving and just, compassionate and holy, he spares them from the brunt of that storm and instead allows them to suffer the consequences of disobedience that he laid out in the Law that was given to Moses. It is an act of love. He desires to turn their hearts back to him. He loves them too much to allow them to remain in their sins that push them further away from him. His goal is to change their hearts not just their actions and bring them back to a right relationship with him.
I am just like the Israelites. Sometimes I push the boundaries that God has set for me. I take advantage of his patience and gentle nature. I focus on his gracious and merciful heart forgetting often that he still is a just and holy God who loves me too much to let me always have things "my way". I set up idols in my life, things that I put before him. I think I can do things in my strength and that I don't need him. I want to live my life my way but still enjoy his blessings poured upon my life as well.
But God loves me so much he never lets me stay outside of the boundaries he has set for long. He will do whatever it takes to bring me back. He lets me experience the consequences of my choices. When this happens I often find that I question God's unchangeable character instead of looking at my own which is flawed. I question his love for me. I question his authority in my life. I question his plan for my life. I question his ability to forgive. I question my place in his family. I should never question any of these things but rather remember that he is the unchanging God who created me with a purpose. I need to learn from the place I am in and allow it to grow me. Allow it change that which needs to be changed. I need to allow God, my father, to mold me into the child he created me to be. Sometimes that process isn't easy but in the end I will have a heart that has learned to love the boundaries that God has given me to live in. I will truly be able to live a life of freedom and joy.
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