September 14th

SEPTEMBER 14th

Our Heavenly Father sees us as children. Now whether or not your earthly father was a good father is not a reflection of our Heavenly Father. He is perfect. His love for us is perfect. As a result, He is concerned about us as a good parent should be of course. Good parents don’t withhold discipline.

Hebrews 12:5b-6 “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

Good parents also don’t ignore, neglect or abuse their children. But discipline is not abuse. Shielding our kids from hard things is also not good parenting, no matter how much we want to protect them from difficult things, shielding them from everything is not good for them. Hard things strengthen us. We don’t create hardships for our kids (we don’t have to, this world is hard enough) but we also don’t shield them from hard things. Learning to endure hard things while still in a safe home environment where we are there to walk through the hard things with them is the best thing to help a kid grow up to stand on their own.

This is our Heavenly Father, He does not remove all hardships from our lives, but He stands with us through them. We are in the safe environment of His perfect, never failing love able to walk through hard times relying on His strength, His wisdom and His power. He is there to guide us through.

Psalm 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.

Isaiah 48:17 This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.

And what happens when we don’t listen to Him? Or don’t even ask Him for help? He prays for us. He says the things that we say to our own kids when we see them headed for “the ditch” or in over their heads or paying the consequences of bad choices…

Isaiah 48:18 If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your well-being like the waves of the sea.

It is hard when we watch our kids make choices that could cost them dearly or head in the wrong direction, or even just give the world too much attention. That is exactly what our Heavenly Father is dealing with when we are doing those very things ourselves. He knows what is best for us and yet we think we know best. He sees the trouble that lies around the corner or on the road we are heading down and dearly wishes we would just seek Him and obey instead. He sees us get too distracted by the world and not spend enough time in His Word (His road map), and risk getting lost on the wrong path that will cost us dearly.

The problem with us, is that we are adults. We think we have learned our lessons and made our mistakes so we don’t consult Him as much as we should. Now some people say that we don’t need to consult our Heavenly Father about every little thing, but I tend to lean the other way. He knows what is next, what will happen, whether I should spend the money or not, whether I will need this or that or not. The way I see it, the world could change radically in a moment and most of the things we have could be a pile of junk and obsolete or nonfunctioning and none of it is going to Heaven with us. So I wanna know whether He thinks a decision is wise or not. I’m learning to pay attention to the nudge of the Holy Spirit when He is trying to tell me “no.” So now, it is a matter of whether I am going to give up my will if it is something I really want to do.

Heavenly Father, thank you for your patience and your love. Help me to seek you in everything and pay attention to your guidance. Help me to remember that you have your loving eye on me and like a good Father you don’t remove hardships but you walk with me through them. Help me to give you the respect and honor you deserve in my life. Thank you for loving me so much and so perfectly.

Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.