Having Kids Gives Us a Tiny Inkling of What God Has to Put Up With
One of the things which helped me immensely after having kids was that it gave me a tiny inkling of what God has to put up with about us.
My kids, when they were very little, would simply not understand why I didn't want them doing things that they thought were fun, like running out into the middle of the road. I loved them so much that I didn't want them running out to play in the middle of the road, so I wouldn't let them. I would pull them back every time they tried to do this. To them, this didn't feel like love. It felt restrictive to them. Yet, I only did what any loving parent would do to keep their child safe.
I was frustrated that my children just couldn't seem to understand that I was doing this out of love and to stop them from getting hurt or killed. Then I realized this must be very similar to what God has to put up with when dealing with us.
And God has had to put up with all this (our ingratitude, incomprehension and disobedience) not just today for those of us that are alive, but since the days of Adam and Eve. I am sure that in particular, the exodus out of Egypt and into the promised land caused God all kinds of frustrations with His people when they did not listen to Him. The same is true today - we don't listen to Him.
Another problem God has to put up with is us listening but thinking we know better, Again, this is exactly the same thing I've seen with my kids as they've gotten a little bit older. The truth is, we don't know better than God. We're not anywhere even close to being on the same level as Him. Yet, we like to think of ourselves as just so smart that we have to somehow be able to argue with God on the same level as Him. Or we listen to what he has to say, but decide to disobey Him anyway. This prideful thinking is a big mistake. We are like children compared to God. Just as we can't expect a two year old to understand why we have things set up a certain way, we likewise can't expect ourselves to be able to argue with God on His level.
Even if you don't have children of your own, you must have seen a one year old or a two year old child. This is how we are to God. And he loves us how we are - but we are like children compared to God, and we do give Him a lot to put up with!
If you found this post interesting, you might also like these related posts on this blog:
My kids, when they were very little, would simply not understand why I didn't want them doing things that they thought were fun, like running out into the middle of the road. I loved them so much that I didn't want them running out to play in the middle of the road, so I wouldn't let them. I would pull them back every time they tried to do this. To them, this didn't feel like love. It felt restrictive to them. Yet, I only did what any loving parent would do to keep their child safe.
I was frustrated that my children just couldn't seem to understand that I was doing this out of love and to stop them from getting hurt or killed. Then I realized this must be very similar to what God has to put up with when dealing with us.
And God has had to put up with all this (our ingratitude, incomprehension and disobedience) not just today for those of us that are alive, but since the days of Adam and Eve. I am sure that in particular, the exodus out of Egypt and into the promised land caused God all kinds of frustrations with His people when they did not listen to Him. The same is true today - we don't listen to Him.
Another problem God has to put up with is us listening but thinking we know better, Again, this is exactly the same thing I've seen with my kids as they've gotten a little bit older. The truth is, we don't know better than God. We're not anywhere even close to being on the same level as Him. Yet, we like to think of ourselves as just so smart that we have to somehow be able to argue with God on the same level as Him. Or we listen to what he has to say, but decide to disobey Him anyway. This prideful thinking is a big mistake. We are like children compared to God. Just as we can't expect a two year old to understand why we have things set up a certain way, we likewise can't expect ourselves to be able to argue with God on His level.
Even if you don't have children of your own, you must have seen a one year old or a two year old child. This is how we are to God. And he loves us how we are - but we are like children compared to God, and we do give Him a lot to put up with!
If you found this post interesting, you might also like these related posts on this blog:
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