Rebellious Children

“Son of man,” he said, “I am sending you to the nation of Israel, a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me. They and their ancestors have been rebelling against me to this very day.” Ezekiel 2:3

“THE CHILDREN I RAISED and cared for have rebelled against me” (Isaiah 1:2). Who said that? God did. Perhaps you are looking at the way your child is living, and you think you must be a bad parent. You think you have failed. Hear this: Nobody could have been a better parent than God, and yet his children rebelled. His children did outrageously foolish, self-destructive, wicked things. If your heart is breaking over your child’s rebellion, your Father knows exactly what that feels like.

God’s first son, Adam, heard God’s command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden. But he rebelled against God and ate. God’s second son, the nation of Israel, heard God’s Word given to Moses at Sinai. He heard that he was to have no other gods but God, that he was not to bow down to idols or misuse God’s name, that he was to keep the Sabbath holy, that he was not to murder or commit adultery or lie or covet. But this son also rebelled and refused to obey God’s law.

What the children of Israel needed was not a more perfect parent. They already had that. What they needed was a brother to be born into the dysfunctional human family, one who would not rebel. This brother would take all of the ugly rebellion of his brothers and sisters upon himself, so it would be nailed to the cross.

Lord, it helps me to remember that you understand the heartbreak of having a rebellious child. In this very moment, I find a deeper fellowship with you through this shared experience. I know that there is something ________ needs even more than a perfect parent. My only hope as a rebel child —and ________’s only hope as a rebel child —is to be joined by faith to the only child of yours who did not rebel. We need the perfect obedience of Jesus to be transferred to our account. And we need more than that; we need his glad obedience to you to become a growing reality in our lives. Father, do the transforming work only you can do to change us from rebellious children into obedient sons and daughters.