Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
I have three really awesome kids, and the youngest of our kids is just about two. I know for a lot of people this is when the terrible twos start to hit. As a parent, this is actually one of my favorite stages, because you’re watching your baby find their personality. You start interacting with them in new ways, like talking.
Our son is starting to learn some new words, and it’s so sweet. There are two words that stand out in his vocabulary other than “Mom” and “Dad.” The first is the word “no.” My guess is you’re not surprised by that. If you have kids, you’re probably familiar with how quickly that word becomes a part of their vocabulary and can be their way of testing where the line is.
The Cutest Little No
A lot of times we’ll ask our son to do something, and we get the cutest little no. “Hey, buddy, let’s go get ready for bed.” “No.” “Hey, dude, we gotta go grab our shoes. Come on.” “No.” “Hey, little man, can we put that away?” “No.” It’s so sweet, but at times, it prevents us from getting the things done that we need to get done.
The Word Why
Praise God, because the other word in his vocabulary that has been growing faster than the other ones is the word “why.” He’s a curious little guy, and he will always point to something he doesn’t understand and ask why. “Why, Mama? Why water? Why juice?”
It’s been really neat to see that as he learns why we’re asking him to do these different things, he’s actually much more open to doing them, because he’s starting to connect the commands that we have for him with the care that we have for him as parents.
Conversations that looked like, “Hey, buddy, grab your shoes,” now have turned into, “Hey, man, we’re going to go get some dinner. You hungry?” When he says yes, then we can explain, “Okay, then we need to get our shoes on so we can go to the store.” “Hey, dude, are you excited to see your friends at church tomorrow?” “Yeah.” “Okay, well, then we need to get ready for bed now, so we have all of this energy for tomorrow.” It’s this understanding that helps him see the goodness of what we’re asking him to do.
Connecting God’s Commands with His Care
If I’m being honest, I think we can have this same sort of struggle with God when He asks us to do something that is uncomfortable or new, or maybe just not what we want to do in the moment. Our temptation might be to say no, but God’s commandments are always right, and they’re always good. We need to start understanding why.
See, God doesn’t give us laws to blindly follow them. He gives them to us so that we can understand His character and His nature. We need to start peeling back the layers of our finite understanding and begin to look at the Word and go, okay, God, I understand what You’re calling me to do, but now help me to understand why, so that we can connect these commandments He gives to us with the care He has for us as our Heavenly Father.
Don’t just be that Christian that looks at the Word and says, I’m doing it all, and this must be what it’s all about. The Father wants us to understand His heart. Let’s grow together in wisdom and understanding as we walk on this path of life.
