A FATHER WHO LETS US EXPERIENCE CONSEQUENCES
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity. Romans 1:24a
When we see our children make bad choices, we usually want to rush in and prevent them from experiencing the consequences. What we try to protect them from might have saved them. Instead of facing the consequences, they grew to feel entitled to our interventions. They continued to sin recklessly.
This dynamic doesn’t just exist between parents and children either. Anyone who loves another can try to spare them from pain. While feelings of love may motivate our actions, prudence is absent. The truth is – we all need the pain of our consequences to bring us to God.
At first glance, this verse, and the way it is worded, can seem like it describes a bad parent. i.e. When God’s child sins, He dusts His hands, shrugs in disgust, and then leaves them to their folly. That is not the meaning here. This ‘giving them up’ is a judicial act where God allows His child to reap what he sows. All the while He watches, grieves, beckons, longs, and weeps over the pain His child will feel when sin bears its consequential fruit.
So, are you a rescuer? Perhaps that has been your role in the family. Raised in the midst of strife, you sought to smooth the turbulence by taking on others’ pain so they could return to a peaceful state. You spent your life fixing things, by default. Whatever the angst, and no matter if another’s sin caused it, you absorbed the consequences and tried to return order to your surroundings. You were willing to do anything to avoid anger, drinking, depression, and the many risks when others are released to deal with their instability.
Depending on the situation, and whether innocent children are involved, it’s best to let things just fall apart. People only learn to make different choices by eating the fruit of their own deeds; the good and the bad. I know. I was a peacemaker. I wallpapered the Titanic when I should have been preparing to board the lifeboat.
I bless Your Fathering, for the many times You allow Your children to come to the end of themselves. You are the Father who waits on the porch with the light on. I release others to Your care today and will not interfere. Amen
For more from Christine Wyrtzen and Jaime Wyrtzen Lauze, please visit www.daughtersofpromise.org
Originally published Thursday, 30 May 2024.
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