This week's Theme: No other gods
Day 1: Unfailing Love
Over the weeks we watched him—the other parents and I—with growing concern and sadness. Our children played together in a community baseball team that was part of Little League—an organization that organizes youth baseball and softball programs in the US and around the world.
He stood as close as he could to the wire fence that enclosed the baseball field. And as soon as it was his son's turn on the field, the yelling, and the scolding, and the shouting began.
The scene repeated endlessly. Whatever action the child took, whatever decision he made, he would inevitably turn towards his father for some sign of approval, some word of encouragement. It never came. Only the screaming, and the criticizing, and the constant berating.
Over the weeks, many of the other parents expressed anger, frustration, and distress, and pleaded with the coach to “do something.” And after all these years, I still recall the sadness and helplessness I felt. Even as I understand that I, too, was not a perfect parent.
No, parenting is not an exact science, and in our individual and collective experience—as children—or as parents ourselves—we have all dealt with the weight and the consequences of human imperfections and limitations. To varying degrees. And for some, the concept of God is deeply tied to parenting, or family, or authority relationships.
As a child, fear was my most dominant association with God. One of the friends in our play circle who was a few years older than my sister and me, would often “threaten us with God.”
“Look God!” (Here comes God!) she would shout, and then scurry inside and lock the doors, leaving us outside to face the ferocious “divinity” we pictured in our overwrought and impressionable minds. She wasn’t the only one. A punitive God was the widespread view. “God gwi punish yuh!” (“God will punish you!”) was the common response to anyone’s displeasure or annoyance, or their view of “trespass against them.”
I recognize now that my childhood view of God was deeply flawed and faulty. And a faulty view of God is idolatry—an image I make for myself—even in a mental or intellectual construct. God expressly forbids this in the commandment He issued to His people:
“You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them…” (Exodus 20:3-5).
I am far from having perfect knowledge of the Holy One (Proverbs 9:10). In fact, I can readily identify with the sentiments of Agur son of Jakeh, “I have not learned wisdom, nor have I attained to the knowledge of the Holy One” (Proverbs 30:3).
But I borrow the words of the Apostle Paul, though spoken in a slightly different context: Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12 – NKJV).
And I have come to know the God of unfailing love—the God who looks out onto my scary and confusing sandlots—and offers encouragement and approval in unerring proportion along with all else He provides for flawless guidance, discipline, protection and preservation. The God who ultimately declares me, "Safe!"
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