I was reading Numbers 27 this morning and the last paragraph grabbed me.
12 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go up to this mountain of Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the sons of Israel. 13 “When you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was; 14 for in the wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against My command to treat Me as holy before their eyes at the water.” (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)
Here the Lord is referring to Numbers 20 8-12.
The Water of Meribah
8 “Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak
to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink.” 9 So Moses took the rod from before the LORD, just as He had commanded him; 10 and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. 12 But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”
Moses made a mistake and God rebuked him, told him what the consequence would be and then they got on with things. I don’t mean to trivialize this, God just sentenced Moses to die before entering the promised land, and Moses just keeps doing his job leading the people of Israel. He continues to respect, adore and OBEY God. God loved Moses. Moses is recorded as having face to face conversations with God. No one has ever gotten to have such an “open door” policy with God. But Moses still had to be disciplined.
Why is it that we as parents, ok, I as a parent, have problems disciplining our children? As parents, we want to give our children “another” chance, because we love them and don’t want to see them hurt. (I am speaking here of the emotional hurt that discipline brings.) Wouldn’t it be better if we followed in His footsteps and direction? If we set a firm groundwork of rules, that were age appropriate, and then held our children responsible for obeying those rules? That we should teach first time obedience? That we should discipline, not punish, inappropriate behavior?
There is one other part of this that is so important. After God rebukes Moses they move on. God isn’t in a huff and angry with Moses all day. Moses doesn’t pout that God rebuked him. They both understood the rules, they dealt with the situation then moved on. Now admittedly we can’t “make” our children move on. No pouting rules don’t work. But we can set the example, by following God’s example. After the correction we have to move on, get our “happy” faces on and show our children that we love them no matter what.
If we followed God’s example of setting rules that are in our children’s best interests and disciplining with love, they will learn and grow and respect us. Of course, the hard part is implementing this day in and day out, even when we are tired and grumpy. Our kids expect and deserve godly parenting, shouldn’t we strive to meet the example that is provided for us?