Thursday, September 20, 2012

Corner Time



I finished Isaiah and skipped over Jeremiah, going right into Lamentations. Although it's quite gloomy, I think a lot can be learned from it. It is believed that Jeremiah wrote it while grieving for Israel after its fall the the burning of the temple. It is a set of poems written to God about pain and suffering.

This is the verse that stood out for me in the first chapter:

Lamentations 1:18 The Lord is just, for I have rebelled against his command.


It occurred to me while reading this, that Israel deserved to be punished. They didn't screw up just once, or even twice. They did it over and over and over again.

When we screw up, sometimes we try to avoid the punishment. I find that whenever I make a mistake, the wheels in my mind immediately start turning and trying to figure out how I'm going to cover it up and evade any consequences, or pass it off as somebody else's mistake. It's only when I decide to face the consequences that I seem to receive unexpected grace.

Case in point: A few years ago, I got pulled over for running a red light. Now I still believe that I should not have been pulled over, but the city policeman did not seem to care about that (not that I argued with him). It was raining. I had bad brakes. The light was turning yellow and I tried to stop, but realizing that I would have skidded all over the intersection and possibly had a wreck, I decided to just go through the light. It didn't turn red until I was right underneath it. I thought I was in the clear until I saw those flashing blue lights. So, in the end, I got a $186 ticket and 3 points on my license. It didn't seem fair.

A few months later, driving down a hill, I got pulled over for speeding. It was easy to do, but I always tried to be conscious of my speed (especially since I still had those bad brakes). The cop told me about it, and I admitted it, saying I really should have been paying more attention to my speed. In this case, I felt like I deserved a ticket. But he didn't give me one! I got off with a warning, and thanked God for this miracle of grace.

Isaiah and Jeremiah warned the Israelites that they would be punished if they didn't change their ways, but they didn't pay any attention. They got what was coming to them. We all need discipline--especially as we get older and don't have our parents telling us what we can and can't do. Sometimes we get an I-am-an-adult-and-nobody-tells-ME-what-to-do complex. God humbles us, and when we obey Him, we are rewarded. He wouldn't be a good parent if He didn't send us to the corner sometimes. But He always gives out grace afterwards, which is what Isaiah talked about--grace in the form of Jesus Christ, who died so that we would always be forgiven for our sins.

When have you received discipline, and when have you received grace? Do you think you deserved it?

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