I'm still in the stage where I can't tell you the whole story and make cute little funny jokes about it and make you laugh. I'm devastated right now. I'm sure I will get to that point in time, so maybe I'll just save the story for you for then. But I still felt like sharing something. Even though I don't have all the answers!!!
2 Chronicles 12:5-8
"Then the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and to the
leaders of Judah who had assembled in Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and he
said to them, “This is what the LORD says, ‘You have abandoned me; therefore, I
now abandon you to Shishak.’”
The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and
said, “The LORD is just.”
When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, this word of
the LORD came to Shemaiah: “Since they have humbled themselves, I will not
destroy them but will soon give them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured
out on Jerusalem through Shishak. They will, however, become subject to him, so
that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of
other lands.”"
Have you ever made a threat, which is a promise, as a
parent, that you didn’t want to keep? I just recently did that. Like today. Now I feel like I’m
the one getting punished, and I wish I could take it back. I wish I could take
the whole thing back – most of all I wish I could take her original actions
back. So at first, I thought this passage might give me an out - certainly if God can change His mind, I can do so, too! But my child
has not humbled herself. At all. So even though I see that God changed His
mind on punishment based on their reactions, I can’t justify it my case, unfortunately.
I’m going to have to follow through.
She’s only five, and she seems numbed to the punishment. I
remember refusing to cry when I got spanked, because I didn’t want to give whoever
was spanking me the satisfaction of knowing it hurt me. Was I only five when I
was so defiant? My daughter refused to cry during a spanking as young as four. I mean, to the point where I'm not even sure if spanking is effective. Instead of spanking on this go around, we took privileges away. Which for her, she probably doesn't even see those things as privileges - to her it's just everyday life. She leads a pretty fun, blessed life. And we just took a lot of it away for the next week.
I doubt myself. Is she too young for the punishment and
cannot absorb it? Or she’s numb to it? Is she numb to us being upset? What’s going on in her little brain? Her
tummy hurt. Is she internalizing it? I keep punishing until I see an outward
sign of remorse or sorrow or regret or humility, but I see very little. I saw a
little, at taking away AWANA. So I’m taking away from her the extracurricular
activity she loves the most, where she learns about God. GREAT. Aren’t I a
complete jack ass!
And back to the scripture, even though God changed his mind,
He still punished them. That’s a key point too. He lessened the punishment because
they showed humility. Sigh. I never thought God changed His mind. Makes Him seem
less…..omniscient. More like a human parent. But a good parent. Despite His grace, they
continued in their wickedness. This was not the great turnaround of Rehoboam; however, he was credited as having some good in him.
My child, on the other hand…. Sigh. She has so much good in her, but
not a lot of humility! I guess they are dead ringer opposites, my Edith and this Rehoboam. Back to the drawing board.PS Usually I don't write a post until I have all the answers. Hope you'll forgive me for this little indiscretion.
