Tough Love

Ezekiel 14:12-23
Psalm 33
Matthew 25:1-13


Four times God tells Ezekiel that even Noah, Daniel, and Job, all known for their righteousness, could not have save their own sons and daughters from the coming destruction. They could only have saved themselves by their own righteousness. Yet after the coming disaster they (the people of Israel in Ezekiel's time) will see the change in conduct and action and they will know "that I have done nothing in it without cause" (declares the Sovereign Lord). It is through the Lord's discipline that the sons and daughters are brought back from their rebellion.

I have talked with many parents of adult children who are concerned about children who seem to have forsaken all their early training in the faith. They long to bring them back into the fold. Being faithful the parents do their very best to love and exhort their children. Time after time they lovingly bail them out of their troubles only to have it make little difference in their child's faith status. They lecture, they plead, they coerce, they bribe, they manipulate all to no avail. And no matter how righteous, loving or concerned they might be, they are unable to effect a change, only God can.

Many times his methods are not what they or we would like. We would prefer that he woo our children back into the fold with prestigious jobs, loving families, abundance of material goods, glowing health, or at least through our love and concern. Ezekiel mentions God's tools--wild beasts, the sword, plague and famine. None of us wish these things for our children. Some of us attempt to intervene to prevent these difficulties from occurring. However, God says that these "disasters" are often the things that may bring rebellious sons and daughters to change of conduct and action. How hard it is to love and care without interfering in the ways of the Lord! It takes great discernment to know when to love by giving and when to love by restraining the gift. In order to do this wisely and successfully, we need to keep our own lamps filled with oil and wait upon the Lord for wisdom and patience. Sometimes it seems as though he is taking an incredibly long time to act. "We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us [and our children] O Lord, even as we put our hope in you (Pslam 33). Amen.