If you are, or have been a parent, you have most likely encountered the following scenario. Your child has been told pointedly that a certain type of behavior will bring swift punishment. You barely have time to get the words out of your mouth, when the child proceeds to do exactly what you forbid him or her to do. Although you are still stunned at your child's willfulness, you follow through on your word, and the punishment is administered as promised. How does your child respond? Does your child say "Thanks, Mom (or Dad). I know I deserved that. I appreciate your loving me enough to set me on the right path"? (If you ever get that response, make sure to record it...you'll be famous.)
When they are corrected or punished, most children express resentment or anger. They are certain that they have the most unfair, meanest parents any child could ever have. They break the rules and then get angry with their parents for enforcing the rules. It doesn't really make sense. You promise something as a parent, and when you keep your promise the kids think you are terrible!
As amusing, or infuriating, as this behavior may be, it isn't really anything new. We were like that when we were children and we can see from the Scriptures that God's people have followed this same path of behavior since the beginning of their relationship with Him. (By the way...we still do.) In Isaiah 5:1-7 we have recorded some poetic verses known as "The Song of the Vineyard." It is actually a parable. The Lord plants a vineyard and does everything necessary for it to produce the best grapes. In spite of all His efforts, however, the crop is always horrible. Isaiah asks, "What would a prudent farmer do?" The answer is simple...the prudent farmer would tear everything down and go somewhere to start all over again. It is at that point that Isaiah reminds God's people that they are the vineyard in question. God has called them into existence from nothing, and they have failed in their obedience.
If you set Psalm 80 and Isaiah 5 side by side you can see an interesting picture.Psalm 80 speaks from the other perspective of the story pictured in Isaiah 5. In Psalm 80 the people of Israel are saying, "Lord, you have done miraculous things to call us into existence and sustain us. Why are things so bad now? Why are our enemies defeating us? Don't You know that our suffering might cause people to question Your goodness?" The people of Israel sound like the child who is screaming that Mom and Dad are mean when they hand out the punishment promised for disobedience...even though they disobeyed.
How often do we approach our own behavior and commitment in a similar fashion? We know that disobedience will cause calamity in our relationship with God, but we disobey anyway and then wonder why we don't enjoy God's peace and presence in our lives. A better question to ask would be, "How do we avoid such calamity in our lives?" In Luke 12:49-56 Jesus says that we have to make a clear choice. In fact, the very fact that Jesus came, died and rose again means that no person who has lived since those events occurred is free from making some sort of choice. We sometimes try to straddle the fence and delay either our decision for Christ or our commitment to obeying Him, but even that delay is a choice...it is saying "no" for the time being. If we turn our back on Christ, like the people of Judah in the Song of the Vineyard, we should not be surprised (like those who speak with astonishment in Psalm 80) when punishment or chastisement comes as a consequence.
How do we make the right choice? We can follow the advice of Hebrews 11 and 12. We can take note of the manner in which the great figures of the Bible put their faith into action. We can follow their examples and make the conscious decision to anchor our lives, our hope and our obedience in Jesus, the Founder and Finisher of our faith.
