Obedience

Before I had children, I was the kind of person who would judge those who did have children. I would look at those moms with their screaming, out of control kids and think, "My child will never...(fill in the blank).." Even after we had our oldest son, I still had those thoughts because he was so easy, and I honestly couldn't understand why some mothers just couldn't handle it.
God has a way of breaking us in our judgments, and I learned a big lesson when Micah was born. I have talked about Micah's unique personality in earlier posts, but here's the recap: he was the most difficult child to ever grace this earth (in my biased opinion). When God blesses us with stubborn, strong-willed children all of our judgment of others flies out the window, and we are left wrestling a screaming, thrashing child as we silently pray for God to deliver us from whatever situation we are facing at that moment.
When Micah was younger I left so many places with him tucked under my arm, screaming away; many times tears where rolling down my cheeks as time after time my strength was tested both physically and emotionally. I never gave up trying to do fun things, but more often than not we spent our days at home having left a friend's house or the park early because of a meltdown.
That was the way I chose to handle it; when he melted down down, we picked up and left...there was no reward of the park, or playing with friends if there was disobedience. Did that mean that my older son and I missed out on some things? Yes, but that's what it took to teach Micah, so that's what we did.
As time passed, Micah learned that the good things disappeared when his behavior was bad, and slowly, we were able to do more and more outside of our home. Today, he is an amazing boy, still stubborn and still loud, but kind and generous with his love and encouragement; there are days you can find him sitting in his bed pouting because he lost control of himself and is in time out, but overall he has learned that rewards come when he is obedient.
The journey was long, but the boy that he is today proves that the sacrifices, the tears, and my trusting in God's peace and patience was well worth it.
 
My journey through Leviticus is winding down, and this morning as I started on chapter 26 I knew that I would have to share it with you. The title of the first part of the chapter is "Reward for Obedience". I loved it, and I am continually amazed at what God is teaching me about himself through His word.
 
 

"Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord, your God.

Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord.

If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the tress of the field their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.

I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove savage beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through you country. You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.

I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. You will still be eating last year's harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high."

 
So what does that have to do with us or my strong-willed child? God spoke these words to the Israelites, and they were very literal; when they obeyed Him he sent rain, He fought battles for them, the fruit of their trees and the crops in their fields were abundant. God rescued them from slavery in Egypt and literally broke them free from their bars; they were His people whom He called to live for Him within the frame work of His laws.

Because God can see the big picture at all times, there should be no surprise that He spoke these words for us as well. Many of us don't build alters and bow down to stones, but we do have idols, don't we? We don't always respect His church and we've allowed our sinful nature to invade our worship of Him...we do these things, and more; we struggle within ourselves between this world and His word...we all do.  We break his commandments time after time after time… But...if we choose Him, if we take our stand in this world for His glory, He promises to bring rain when we need it, and He promises that our lives will be fruitful, and that He will give us more than enough to meet our needs. Following Him doesn't mean we won't face trouble in this world, but when we obey His commands He will go before us and fight the battles that are impossible for us to fight on our own. When we chose Him, He dwells in us; as our obedience increases His presence in our life increases. We will never be empty; we will all have our fill when we choose Him. I love, I love, I love the last part of verse 12: "I broke the bars of your yoke, and enabled you to walk with heads held high." That's what Jesus did for us. He broke our bond with sin; we are no longer slaves of this world, and we can walk with our heads held high praising Him and giving glory to Him through every blessing and every trial because it all works together for our good when we choose Him.
 
There is punishment for disobedience; there is separation from His goodness when we choose to turn from Him. Chapter 26 goes on to talk about this, and about what that looked like in the lives of the Israelites; the punishment is the direct opposite of the rewards, but here's the good part: it says that if we confess our sins He will remember the covenant He has made with us.  There will be consequences of our sin, but because of Jesus, and through His death and resurrection, our punishment has been paid. Consequences can be difficult, and confession is so hard to do sometimes, but we will miss out on His blessing if we choose disobedience.  He promises to love us and forgive us, and little by little when we begin to choose Him again we can start to see His rewards, and see that He is good.
 
We are all strong-willed, stubborn children at times; we all kick and scream and fight with the Father who loves us so much. We want our way, and we want it on our own terms; little by little we learn that life just doesn't work that way. We are called, just like little children, to a life of obedience; many of us learn the consequences of disobedience over and over again, but God calls to us and says, "Choose Me! ... My yoke is easy, and burden is light!" With Him we can hold our heads up high, knowing that He dwells with us, and that we are more than conquerors with Him by our side. 

As I think back on the early years of hardship, training and raising Micah, I see myself as a child of God.  I’ve been stubborn,  and I have turned from Him in the past;  in those moments the lessons were hard, and the reward was not there.  Choosing Him is a choice, and the more we buck His commandments, the farther we get from Him; choosing the world is deliberately not choosing Him. 
 
I was thinking about how this lesson can be applied individually and collectively in our lives.  It really speaks to every level of life.  God is the Maker and Creator of all; individually we are to choose Him, as families we are to choose Him, and as a nation we are to choose Him.  Disobedience on any level has consequences for us all.  I am so saddened by the condition of our nation…a nation who at its core was founded on Biblical principles.  That’s another blog for another day, but as our leaders kick and scream and turn their faces from our Creator in the name of protecting rights that were made up by men and abhorred by our Lord, we shouldn’t be surprised that the reward has left us, and that we are missing out on the great blessings that are set aside for those that choose Him. 
 
If we choose obedience as individuals, maybe we can start to change the disobedience in our nation, and maybe, just maybe, as our obedience increases His presence will increase as well.