Tough Love

Today I read Exodus 22 where the Lord further instructs Israel on how to behave and on what His expectations are.  I had an interesting moment while reading this chapter today.  In verse 27 the Lord tells the Israelites that if they borrow a coat from someone, they need to return it lest the person pray to God and God will hear the person because God is gracious.  As I was reading this line, the thought jumped in my head that based on the last two chapters God doesn't seem very gracious to me.  And it got me thinking, is the reason God being so strict on the Israelites God's fault or the people's fault?

The more I thought about it, the more I thought about a parent here on Earth dealing with a toddler.  Little children who are just learning to walk and learning their boundaries pretty much have to be told everything.  My daughter thinks everything she wants, is hers.  If I am eating something, she will come right up to me, put her hand in my food and unless I stop her, start eating my food.  She sees nothing wrong with this and will do it, even if she has her own food.  She will grab anything and everything her little heart desires unless her mother and I stop her.  This includes grabbing cleaning chemicals, the hot stove and any number of other items that could harm her.  We have to be extremely strict with her for her own well being and for her own safety.

So it is with Heavenly Father.  We are the toddlers, who think we should be able to do everything and have anything that we set our minds to.  However, Heavenly Father knows the dangers and because we are bull headed and young, He has to be strict with us, just like we are with our children here on the earth.  But that does not mean that He is a mean God or a harsh God.  It means that we are thickheaded!  Just as it is not necessarily the fault of the parent if they are harsh with the child, I understand that some parents take this to extremes and that IS the fault of the parent, if God tries to be nice about it and we just aren't getting the hint, what else is He supposed to do but resort to loud thunderings and harsh rules to deter us?  God is a gracious God and we shouldn't let the way He has to deal with wayward children slant that reality.  He loves us and wants us to be happy.  The challenge is He is the one who knows that it takes for us to be happy, and we just seem to always need to put that to the test!  It's much easier if we just follow along with His plan in the first place!  Until tomorrow.