Picture this. You’re 10 years old, out playing in the yard on a beautiful sunny afternoon, recently freed from the bondage of the school room. A royal noble of your own kingdom, doing battle with evil dragons and doing it all from the back of your trusty steed, your Huffy. Just as you are about to land the death blow to the dragon, your Mom’s voice pierces the air surrounding the medieval battlefield. Time to eat. As you wrap up your kingdom duties for the day, you head in to hear that you must clean up your room before dinner. What? Kings of kingdoms don’t do this stuff! Don’t we have a royal maid? So, in order to better clarify this request of a king, you ask the all-important question that has been asked approximately 98.64 quadrillion times a day by all children under 17 since the beginning of time….why?
Now as soon as a human beings bear offspring, something funny happens. Their DNA fluctuates and two answers are permanently injected into their grey matter. They both deal with that one single word question that will be asked of them until their ears bleed, why? The two answers? Answer one, “because I told you to.” Answer two, “as long you live under my roof you will abide by my rules.” But as I grew to an adult and moved out from underneath “that roof” I still had questions about the rules and I still asked why…a lot.
We have a very strict set of rules to adhere to as we grow up and they are set by our parents. Out of pure unconditional love, they build a set of rules that teach us values, morality, civil responsibility, respect, love, work ethic, and well, the list is endless of what our parents teach us. A parent sets and enforces these rules out of love for the child and even when it might require a spanking or a sharp rebuke, the parents will stay the course knowing that the end result will be much better than forgoing the teaching moment at hand. But as I matured and moved out to tackle work and college, I had an ethereal realization. I was now under my own roof so who made and enforced the rules now? Huh. I proceeded to eat desert first, run with scissors, stay up too late, put my feet on the furniture, swim directly after eating and well, pretty much do whatever. I think this is clinically defined as rebellion. But my example brings up our question of the day. As an adult who makes and enforces our rules of our life?
Now let me clarify the difference between rules and laws for our study. Today we’re talking about rules not laws. If you break a law, you go to jail. As an adult you must to obey these (or go to jail). I’m talking about rules that have no societal enforcement. The rules that when you break them the cops don’t come knocking on your door. Who makes those rules for adults and more specifically who enforces them?
Today we see in Exodus chapter 21 one of the dreaded “skip chapters.” You now exactly what I’m talking about. You get on fire for reading God’s Word and it’s going awesome for a few days and then you hit a chapter that’s either a long genealogy full of names that leaves your mind and tongue looking like a funnel cake, or it’s a dreaded chapter of antiquated rules. Well, guess what we have today? Yep, rules.
10 year old Dan never thought that he would say this, but we need rules. Without proper well defined boundaries, our sin nature will quickly take over and after that lives spiral out of control like a plane with no pilot. I’ve seen it in countless lives around me and I’ve even seen it in the life that’s typing this right now. The problem is that we think it’s the government’s job to make laws to dictate things that they can’t control. Morality, honesty, goodness, kindness, charity, generosity, sexual purity, integrity, character, honor, self-control, patience. You see, rules turn into laws and laws are good for us. But what about the rules that don’t become laws?
As we become adults, we believe that somehow, we can shirk the rules. We can do what we want, when we want, with whomever we want, and there will be no ramifications. But folks, you’ll see as I did that as we move out from underneath the roof of our parents we move out into a much bigger world and we now live under the sky of God. And when you live here, you abide by His rules or He is the one that will administer the spanking. And let me tell you, I’d much rather have the wooden spoon to the bottom than how God can spank. As you encounter this “skip chapter” today that bores you with rule after rule, don’t just interpret the rules but interpret the reasoning behind them. Your Heavenly Father, just like your earthly father, knows that you need rules. Boundaries that you need to stay within so that you can thrive, have great joy and avoid hardships because of poor, prideful decisions. Your Heavenly Father loves you and only wants the best for you. But the best rules in the world will only help the person that listens to them. Take heed of the rules of the Lord and He will make your paths straight. And when you get a little frustrated, sure, you can ask Him that age old question, why? But be prepared for His Fatherly answer, as long as you live under my sky, you’ll abide by My rules.
Blessings for you today as you embrace God’s rules for a joyful, loving, abundant life.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” John 14:15
“The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.” Ecc. 12:13
“But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.” James 1:2
“But he said, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" Luke 11:28
“The wise of heart will receive commands, But a babbling fool will be ruined.” Pro 10:8
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