May 30, 2018

Rules Keep Us Safe

He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

– Luke 11:28

He is such a cute little fellow. He looks up at me with those big brown eyes. Hopeful eyes. He knows he has disobeyed – again. He also knows I’ll forgive him – again.

Some days he minds what I say just perfectly. He goes where he’s supposed to go. He comes when I call him. He follows every rule perfectly.

Other days, well, not so much. He can’t seem to help himself as he chases a calf around the pasture. His wandering feet lead him where he isn’t supposed to go. The fun of it all keeps him from coming when he’s called.

I know he doesn’t understand why I insist on his obedience. He doesn’t realize that the rules are there for his safety. That calf has a mama that can seriously hurt him in an instant. He doesn’t see that. He doesn’t see the mama cow at all. He’s too intent on “playing” with the calf.

He also doesn’t see the danger in exploring areas away from me and his siblings. He’s never seen a snake. He doesn’t know what a coyote is. I tell him repeatedly not to engage anything. He doesn’t understand that disobeying could cost him his life.

It’s another reason I insist he come when I call. I’m not trying to dictate his every move. My intent isn’t to keep him from having fun. It’s just that I see dangers he doesn’t understand and sometimes obedience is the only way to keep him safe.

I wonder if that’s how God sees us. He’s set up rules, the Ten Commandments and other guidelines, to keep us safe and happy. Still, we push back against those boundaries. We make excuses. We venture where we are likely to get hurt, changed, killed.

God tries to keep us safe but we don’t see that. We can’t see the true freedom that comes when we walk His path. We focus on what is denied and forget about all that is allowed. Like Eve in the Garden of Eden. She lost sight of all the fruit she and Adam could eat and focused on the one tree that was forbidden. She didn’t understand the cost until it was too late to change course.

My little boy regularly gets put in timeout. He must stay in the backyard alone while his siblings and I work on the farm. I don’t know what he hates most: missing his adventures or being left behind. He gets the point. He learns his lesson. At least, until the next time something entices him to a place he’s not supposed to go.

We aren’t much different. We amble along, doing what we want, telling ourselves that we are staying well within the boundaries created by God. Until something seems too good to pass up. We’ll do whatever we think we must because, after all, we “deserve” it. Then one day we wake and realize that we’ve turned down a road we never intended to take.

God is faithful. He never changes. He always waits for us to turn around, to cry out, to run toward His waiting arms. Just as I wait for my little guy, just as I seek him out no matter what he’s done, God waits for us. There is nothing that would ever keep Him from welcoming us home again.

God’s rules are meant to keep us safe, to cause us to prosper and live in peace with others. We only harm ourselves when we move away from what He only ever intended to be used to keep us safe.