March 2: Of Hindsight

Leviticus 25:47-27:13

Mark 10:32-52

Psalm 45:1-17

Proverbs 10:22

There are many times in their lives my kids have doubted I love them.  Often it was when I imposed a consequence, a punishment, in an attempt to correct them.  They never liked it when I did.  I get it - I was a really disobedient child, and I never liked it when my parents corrected me.  I wanted to do what I wanted to do, and when they did, or expected me to behave, I thought they were being unreasonable, maybe even just mean.  I certainly didn't think they loved me.  I didn't understand. 

I think many who read today's OT passage could choose to feel the same way about God.  One could go through these verses and see a God whose love was conditional, even questionable, premised on our behavior.  One could see an unreasonable kill joy.  

The thing is, today I am a parent, and I now understand what I didn't back then, why my parents had to do to me and for me the way they did.  They knew that ultimately my life was going to be determined by the choices I made, and so they tried to make clear early on that choices had consequences - good choices good ones, bad choices bad ones.  And today I understand, and I no longer question their love.  

God loved us so much He gave us free will, because He knew that our greatest joy, our perfect completion would come in choosing to exercise that free will by loving Him right back.  But the free will meant He couldn't force us to love Him, and so we would run the risk of bad choices and painful consequences, consequences He would rather we spare ourselves.  And so early on, in the life of the nation Israel, He makes it clear that their choices will have consequences - good choices good ones, bad choices bad ones.  

One thing, though: I will never be a Father like Him, and so will probably never understand His correction and consequence.  I pray that, unlike my relationship with my parents, I not need to understand to learn to trust and obey.  

Father, may we learn to see Your guidance and correction through the lens of the knowledge of Your love.  In doing so, may we never need to understand to obey.