Saturday, June 16, 2012

Saturday, June 16- by Pamela

Today's passage from the Chronological Bible In a Year Reading Plan is  1 Kings 9, 2 Chronicles 8
Today's scripture focus is Ecclesiastes 8:9-17


All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt. 10 Then too, I saw the wicked buried—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.
11 When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong. 12 Although a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a long time, I know that it will go better with God-fearing men, who are reverent before God. 13 Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
14 There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless. 15 So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.
16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe man’s labor on earth—his eyes not seeing sleep day or night— 17 then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.



Verse 11 jumped out at me.
11 When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong.


One of the things I pray for my kids is that when they are walking down a wrong path, that they will quickly be discovered so that it will be easy to be redirected to the right one. I think this verse spells it out very clearly that when you are doing something wrong, and you don't get caught or punished for it, it's too easy to keep going. Although God knows our heart, and no sin can hide from Him, we could be led to believe that our sin (because no one is discovering it) is "not that bad" and we continue to walk down the wrong path.

As a parent (and a Grade 1 teacher), I am a firm believer in "say what you mean, and mean what you say". Kids respond to that when they know you are going to follow through. This is not always easy and when you get frustrated about a child's actions, you might threaten something that is not appropriate for the crime and that's not right either. (Colossians 3:21) So it is important to think before you speak and then don't go back on your word...it exasperates your children and they don't know what to expect when you say something and it prevents the "sentence for a crime [to] not [be] quickly carried out" and that could result in a child scheming ways to get around what you say the next time.

When my daughter, Kezia, was younger, she had a terrible habit of temper tantrums. We (although it was often me on my own because my husband works long hours and the kids were almost always in bed before he got home) decided to not allow that kind of disrespectful behaviour in our home. We told Kezia that if she chose to scream and cry she could do that in her room and no where else. When the temper tantrum hit (the crime) we carried her off to her room (the sentence). It was a quick consequence. She didn't always want to stay in her room and would still be screaming when she came out and so we had to carry her back again, and again, and again. We wanted her to know that we mean what we say. The beginning was hard-sometimes carrying her back to her room 20 or more times-but the work was worth it as she got older and realized that "scheming" to get out of her punishment was not going to do any good because we would be sure to carry out her sentence.

A few months ago, we were having a tough time with our (then) 10 year old son. Lying seemed to be becoming a pattern for him. It was over dumb things but happening and we didn't want to be something that went unpunished because it would become a habit and "fill him with schemes to do wrong". We, as parents, prayed that Kaden would be discovered in his lies and that we would be able to correct him.
Our prayers have been answered and Kaden was caught in few lies in a row and we were able to help recognize the path he was on is not what God would want for him and it was our job as parents to punish him for his lying. It was a rough time, but I think we are on the upswing (or Kaden's schemes have become more secretive!!) and we have seen Kaden make better choices.

Sorry, this became a focus on just this verse. I've listened to many frustrated friends in recent weeks as they desire to parent their children well instead of just being frustrated. I couldn't seem to get the right words together to respond and today this verse seemed to scream out at me that this is one of the ways to do that.

Tomorrow's scripture focus Ecclesiastes 9:1-12
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Prov 25-26

2 comments:

Tammy said...

So true Pam. That verse stood out to me as well, for exactly the same reason!

Miriam said...

Great post, Pam. I have done similar things with my kids. Repeatedly putting them back to bed, etc. I would get tired of it and frustrated, but in the end, if you give in, you set yourself and them up for a lot more frustration in the long run.