It’s a phrase most commonly used in our house between my husband and I starting at the 9 o’clock hour. That is the time my two younger girls, Hannah and Emmy, should be in bed asleep. Notice the italics on the word “should”. They seem to have a million and one excuses for not going to sleep. A few are valid, but most aren’t. It’s usually for “sleepy milk”, as we call it in our family, false reports of having to go to the bathroom after having just went before bed, either one or both girls say they don’t remember us kissing them goodnight even though we did, or we hear them running around, playing or laughing in their room. We can see a line of light coming from the bottom of their door indicating that their light is on. As soon as the door opens, they quickly scramble into their beds and cover themselves from head to toe. Then they each blame the other for the commotion. At that point, either my husband or I will respond firmly with, “Stay in bed and go to sleep!”
It’s sometimes so hard for my kids to just obey the rules. They are born into sin and naturally want to rebel even though they know they won’t enjoy the consequences. The moment of doing what they want is fun for them until they get caught, but in their minds, they’re all about testing the limits. Eventually they learn that the moment of going against mom and dad to do what you want is not worth the consequences; at least that’s the way it is in our house.
I wonder if God sits there listening to all our excuses as to why we couldn’t read the Bible today, or pray to Him, or put our complete faith in Him to do what He promised to do, or simply just worshiping and praising Him. We as adults can also come up with a million and one ways NOT to do what He wants us to do. In the end, there will be consequences for our behavior, but, like a child, we test the limits with God. However, going against our Heavenly Father has much more severe consequences, and sometimes we just want to run and hide underneath the covers too, hoping that God may not see us or know that we’ve done wrong. If God loves us, wanting only good things for us (Jeremiah 29:11) and will not withhold it from His followers (Psalm 84:11), why do we have such a hard time listening and obeying Him? It’s because of that three letter word that has been in the world since the fall of man. It’s sin, and sin leads to the “me, myself and I” mentality, giving birth to selfishness, causing us to try to break away from being told what to do. We say, “But what about us? What about what we want?”, but the thing is, we weren’t put on this earth for God to fulfill our desires. We were created so that He can fulfill His desire for us, through us, and in us, for His glory. After all, He is the King of ALL Kings, and the Lord of ALL Lords, so why shouldn’t we hold Him higher than any of us? Even with the knowledge of who God is, I still fall for the devil’s schemes of making me feel as if God owes me something in this life. God doesn’t owe me or anyone else ANYTHING! In fact, He didn’t even owe us eternal life in heaven, but He allowed a way to make that possible anyway, simply because He loves us. Sin separated us from God, but Jesus was the bridge that made a way to return to Him and enjoy eternal life in the Heavenly realm.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:8-9
How could a God so loving be so despised and rejected, even amongst believers such as me? When I think about His great love for me, I can’t fathom how I can be so full of myself sometimes. It truly humbles me to really think about what He did for all of us so we can be free from sin and its consequences. He desires so much for each one of us, yet He allows us to follow our own path, is always there with us even when we’re on the wrong path, and is still there to pick us up when we’ve realized we’ve messed up and need forgiveness. Isn’t that a great example of a parent’s love for their child?
God calls children a gift from Him (Psalm 127:3). I think He shows us through our children a tiny glimpse of what He feels towards us. I believe that is why He calls it a gift because through our children, we get to identify with Christ in the sense of truly seeing and understanding what unconditional love really looks and feels like. I can never be so mad at my children that I would stop loving them, and they could never mess up so bad that I wouldn’t forgive them if they asked. Or if they have a million and one reasons why they won’t or can’t do something I want them to do, I won’t turn my back and walk away from them, because I love them too much to just let them do the wrong thing without trying to get them to understand the repercussions of their actions. I want to steer them in the right direction, as The Lord with us. He gives us so many chances in our lives to make it right and stop with the excuses. It’s time for me to stop listening to myself and what I want over what God wants.
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2
One day, my children will learn to obey the rules, like go to sleep when they’re told to amongst obeying other rules in our family, but in the meantime, I just have to be there for them, guiding them towards choosing to obey and follow the right path. I will still pick them up when they fall and forgive them when they’ve done wrong, but I also need to continue to obey my Heavenly Father’s instruction, running the race He lays out before me, with a supernatural endurance only God could give. And there He is, waiting at the finish line for me, ready to pick me up whenever I fall so I can keep on going!
From Patience to Patients 