Stop!

March 31, 2009

By Danny Cheney

One evening before church I was unloading the dishwasher, and our little Hannah wanted to help. Unfortunately, she wasn’t exactly helping; she was just grabbing everything. She would pull out the breakable glasses, and I would tell her to “STOP!” Next, she would try to climb on the dishwasher door, and I would say, “DON’T!” Then she would go for the steak knives. “NO!!!”

It was an endless cycle of crying out, “Stop! Don’t! No!!!” We went round and round until I was exasperated — flustered to the core!

As I vented my frustration, I thought of how God feels sometimes. Most of us aren’t 2-year-olds. Yet it seems we get into stuff all the time that we shouldn’t. I can imagine God saying the same things to us: “Stop! Don’t! No!!!”

“Stop doing that! You’re harming yourself and others!”

“Don’t do that! It will only hurt your soul!”

“No!!! That is off-limits and would be a disaster if you tried it!”

God’s ways are higher than ours, so He doesn’t get flustered with us in the same way we do with our children. But there is plenty of language in Scripture to communicate His divine disappointment when we keep doing “no-no’s.” He is rightly displeased when we keep going down the same paths He has warned us to avoid, and getting into things we know are wrong.

Thankfully, God continues to steer us, teach us and tighten the reins of our hearts. God’s correction isn’t always pleasant, but responding in obedience always leads to blessings.

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son. … No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:5,6,11 NIV).

— Danny and Sonya Cheney pastor Rogers First Assembly in Rogers, Ark.