Viewing the Law through a Child's Eyes

Ask my children the rules of the house, and they're likely to give you a list of negative "No's."  No running inside. No slamming doors.  No drinks outside the kitchen. No shoes left outside the cubby. No standing or jumping on the furniture.  No dirty clothes outside the hamper.  No wet towels left to mildew on the floor.

I've read the parenting books about not phrasing every request as a "no" to your children, and so I say "Use your walking feet!" instead of "No running!"  But honestly?  No matter how positively I spin the request, my children still just hear one word: "NO!"

And no matter how many times I try to explain how the house rules are for their good, all my trio sees are restrictions that limit their freedom and fun.

As a result, I'm often labelled the bad guy, the enforcer, the law-giver (insert little girl eye-roll).  But when I think of how I, too, have spent much of my life viewing God's laws as "negative," I realize my children and I aren't that different.

Listen to anyone say "the law" in reference to the Old Covenant, and it's usually in a tone that makes it sound more like a curse word than a blessing. Too often, Christians categorize the Old Covenant of "the law" as bad and the New Covenant of "grace" as good.

Law--bad.  Grace--good.  Old Covenant--bad.  New Covenant--good.

But it's not that simple.  While the Old Covenant founded on obedience to the Law of Moses could not save mankind from his sin, still, it wasn't intended to be a curse.  The law of the Old Covenant was given as a blessing.

What's more, our 21st century view is definitely not how those men and women under the Old Covenant viewed the law. 

Before his death, Moses told the Israelites, "And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day" (Deut. 6:24).

The law is shown here as "for our good always."

Even David said, "The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul.  The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.  The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes" (Ps. 19:7-8).

Does this sound like a man who considered the law to be a curse?  Absolutely not!  The Law of Moses was liberating, not enslaving!  No, it did not give man the capability to obey the law, as would the Holy Spirit of the New Covenant, and it did not lead to salvation but unto death.  But the law was a demonstration of God's grace and it did give man freedom by guiding him in knowing how to please God.


In John Walton and Andrew Hill's A Survey of the Old Testament, they write,

"We are used to drawing a sharp contrast between law and grace.  This would have puzzled the ancient Israelite for whom there was hardly any greater display of God's grace than that demonstrated in his giving of the law.  In the ancient Near East, gods were not known for their consistency.  Worshipers were left to guess what might please their god or displease him, and this could change from day to day.  That doubt and uncertainty led to constant confusion...The law changed all that for the Israelites.  Their God had chosen to reveal himself and to tell them plainly what he expected of them...in the Old Testament the Israelites are not heard complaining about the burdensomeness of the law.  It was a great example of God's love for them that he would communicate to them in this way.  They considered themselves fortunate to be able to know what God required of them.  The law was viewed as a delight rather than drudgery, as freedom of revelation rather than fetters of restriction" (p. 175)**

Imagine serving a god whose likes and dislikes changed like the seasons.  You would never know from one day to the next what would please him or call down his wrath upon you.  Instead of requiring His people to wonder, our God had mercy on His children and gave them the law to guide their steps--for their good always!

Even Paul said, "the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good" (Rom. 7:12).   Again, to Timothy, Paul said, "the Law is good" because it directs a sinner's path away from sin and illuminates one's need for a Savior when one realizes obedience is impossible without the Holy Spirit's guidance. (1 Tim. 1:8).

God's lists of "do's and don't's" in Scripture aren't meant to rain on our parade.  Politically correct or not, His law is an act of grace, making it clear to us what pleases Him.  

Let us stop rolling our eyes and spitting out the term "law" like little children.  Instead, let us see the law with fresh eyes as a demonstration of God's divine love for us.





**Walton and Hill. A Survey of the Old Testament, 3rd Ed. as qtd. in Moore. The Law of Love: Lessons from the Pages of Deuteronomy. Living Proof Ministries, 2012: 27-28.

Is God Holding Out on You?

"Really? " asks my youngest son.  "Really.....REALLY?" he repeats several more times. 

Over the past week, he has used this phrase with ever increasing frequency, each time his tone communicating how incredulous he is.

It doesn't matter that I have never lied to my children, nor that I don't weekly remind them that mommy will never lie to them even if the truth hurts.  There's just something in my children that doesn't want to believe what someone else tells them, even if that someone else is a loving parent with their best interests at heart.

The problem doesn't just lie with my children, though.  Grown men and women are equally doubtful of others, believing that everyone is forever holding out on them.

In fact, Satan, himself, planted the thought in Eve's mind as early as the dawn of man in the Garden of Eden.  

The book of Genesis says, "Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (3:1).

There it is, a mere three chapters into recorded history--the implication that God, Himself, is secretly lying, is holding out on them....is keeping the best, the naked truth for Himself.

Eve responded, The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die’” (v. 2-3).

But even in her response, that tiny mustard seed of doubt must have already been growing in her mind, for she didn't walk away, didn't leave the conversation.  Instead, she waited there while Satan spun his warped version of the truth: "You will not certainly die!...For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (v. 4-5).  

God is holding out on you.  That blind obedience bit is just a ruse...don't you want to know what He's really hiding behind that threat of death?

Really!?

And Eve took the bait.  She chose to disobey the one rule God had put before her because she doubted His truth; she doubted that He had her best interests at heart....she believed the lie that there was something more, that there was something better than what God had given her.

Scripture says, "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves" (v. 6-7).

As much as we want to look back at this story of original sin and click our tongues in disapproval, I would argue that this scene plays out each day, only now the setting has changed from the pure innocence of the Garden of Eden to this fallen speck of earth in a vastly expanding universe.

Satan's message is the same today as it was all those many millennia ago. And can you blame him?  Why change a sales tactic that continues to work?

"God is holding out on you," Satan continues to say to every man, woman, and child. "There is more to be had in this world than what God offers you.  There is more freedom and pleasure that God is denying you by binding you to the limitations He's set forth in Scripture and The Ten Commandments. You can become your own god...you can know all things, be all things...just reach out and take what you want."

But every word Satan whispers or yells--it's all a lie.  Jesus even said that Satan "was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies" (Jn. 8:44).

God is NOT holding out on you or me.  He isn't trying to take away all our fun, all our freedom by asking us to obey His Word as found in the Old and New Testaments.  Instead, His Word is sent to protect us from ourselves, from the ravaging damage that sin can wreak in our lives.

As James said, "Don't be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights" (Jas. 1:16-17).   Even Paul says we should "put [our] hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment" (1 Tim. 6:17).  Our enjoyment!!!

If we had any questions about whether God was holding back His best gifts or knowledge from us, those questions should have been laid to rest at the foot of the cross where God demonstrated His boundless love for mankind by sending His one and only son to die for every sinful, defiant, doubtful soul.

Yes, even as man continued to believe Satan's lie, God sent the fullness of all grace and truth to us in the God-made-flesh body of Jesus Christ.  And through Jesus' death on the cross, God made a new covenant promise with mankind wherein He reconciled us to Himself so that He could give us an eternal inheritance: "Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance" (Heb. 9:15a).

Satan's sales pitch is persuasive because we can't imagine a God who holds nothing back, who never lies, who wants only the best for us.  But, it's the truth. 

The only more to be had in this life is found through salvation in Jesus.