I witnessed something upsetting today. A woman came into a hair salon, checked in, and was taken to a seat to have her hair cut. The entire time, she complained loudly about the way the employees had treated her disrespectfully when she came in earlier. I was there when she came in earlier, and I knew she had not been treated disrespectfully. But she had her own view of the facts, and she wanted to make sure everyone within hearing distance knew she was unhappy.
Thinking about the incident later, I concluded that the woman had behaved like a two-year-old having a hissy fit in a store because she couldn’t have a toy she wanted. That took me for a walk down memory lane….
When my children were very small, they occasionally had public hissy fits. They would melt down because they were tired, or annoyed, or just overwhelmed with being away from home too long. If you’ve ever been a mother or father, I’m sure you can relate. Yelling at a two-year-old and telling her to behave is rarely useful. Forcing a child to continue with the planned agenda while he cries and screams is distracting and exhausting. Giving in and bribing the child to get them to quiet down teaches them the wrong lessons. But I see parents doing all those things.
When one of my kids used to throw a fit in a store, I would kneel down and encircle them with my arms while I told them firmly to calm down. I didn’t hold them tight, but if they pushed against my arms trying to get free, I’m sure it hurt a little. Other adults in the store probably thought I was guilty of child abuse, but I was giving my child a safe (but small) space to vent their anger and get control before we tried to do anything else.
Sometimes, I feel myself pushing against God’s arms, trying to free myself from the circle of protection he has wrapped around me. It hurts a little, sometimes a lot, and it accomplishes nothing.
In the Bible study I just finished with a group of ladies at church, we learned about God’s laws in the Old Testament. The laws included rules for behavior, participating in feasts, and bringing sacrifices to the Temple. The people didn’t like God’s rules, especially the rule about worshipping no other gods. They felt restricted, and they tried to break free.
“Salvation” for the people of Israel meant being protected from other nations who wanted to conquer them or steal from them. It meant having enough food and water. It meant seeing the blessings of God in their daily lives. God promised them all these things if they would obey his laws. If they disobeyed his laws, God promised that foreigners would overwhelm them and take their land and their freedom.
But God always had a bigger plan in mind. He wanted more for his people than being safe in a small circle of land. He wanted them to have true salvation—forgiveness of all their sins, eternal life in God’s heavenly kingdom, and a personal relationship with God their Father and Jesus his Son.
When my arms encircled my small children, I never meant to keep them there. I wanted them to experience true freedom—freedom from fear and pain and punishment. At two years old, they weren’t ready to make decisions about where to go and what to do without the close guidance of their parents. They needed rules and restrictions, and sometimes they needed to be held back from doing things that might harm them.
I also knew my children needed to learn certain lessons to be successful in life. They needed a good, well-rounded education, they needed to treat other people with respect and kindness, they needed to be able to persevere through hard times and not give up easily, they needed to treat their own bodies with care, and they needed to work hard to make a comfortable life for themselves.
When I had to tell my children “no” or make them do things they didn’t want to do, I hoped they would trust me and believe I was doing what was best for them. But it took time to build that trust—and a lot of hissy fits while they pushed against the restrictions they didn’t want or understand.
How different would our lives be if we remembered that God our Father loves us and is doing what’s best for us. The laws and rules in the Old and New Testaments are not meant to take away our freedom. They are meant to protect us from harm and to teach us to live as God’s chosen people. When we come to Jesus in faith, we are forgiven of our sins, but there is still so much in this life that can harm us. There is still so much we can accomplish for God’s glory if trust him and willingly accept his restrictions.
Is there anything you are pushing against today? Is there some part of your life you want to control rather than trusting that God will work everything out for your good? Sometimes, the arms of God are tight around us. We can push outward and feel trapped, or we can lean in and be embraced. What will you choose today?
