Lessons from God’s timeout chair <3

I know, I know…I usually do randoms on Wednesday but that is the beauty of randoms. You never know when they will show up. It’s the nature of the beast. 

So maybe tomorrow…who knows. 

For today, here is another thought gleaned from those passages in Numbers I read yesterday. 

After God says what he said about the Israelites and their lack of trust being a form of despising him, it says in Chapter 14 verse 39 that Moses told them what God had said and they are filled with grief. 

I take it this was remorse and not repentance, because while He has now said they will not enter the Promised Land as planned but will wander a while until the ones who doubted are all gone, they suit up and head out to face those giants. 

Moses warns them that it’s too little, too late and they need to stand down. They are yet again going against what God said and He is not going to battle with them. 

I am picturing a child who has disobeyed the parent and is now facing consequences. He or she has been told to stay in the room or sit in time out or do a task that is now required, and instead the child tries to go and do the original task or some new task that they know is helpful as a way of seeking forgiveness. 

But the child has missed the point. The opportunity has passed to do the required task and now they are not doing the new command either. The heart is still bent on following self-direction instead of obeying the parent. 

How often when I mess up do I not just sit in my discipline? How often do I try to do other things to make up for what I failed to do? 

Psalm 51 is a beautiful place for us to go to when we are in our own time-out chairs with God. 

When King David messed up royally…pun intended…he wrote this Psalm and his words can be our words when we don’t know what to say. 

God is gracious and kind, slow to anger and abounding in love…but He is just and when we miss the mark, we need to spend some time just sitting in His presence. He knows what we are made of. His grace is amazing and His mercy is beyond measure. 

I am so thankful <3