Proverbs 17:10: A reprimand goes deeper into one who has understanding and a teachable spirit than a hundred lashes into a fool.
Parents of multiple children can acknowledge that when it comes to correcting their children, typically one child is more inclined to receive and comply with correction than the other. One child you can correct by just looking and talking to them in a stern way, but the other requires more effort and “motivation” to change.
For the parent of a “problem child”, it may seem like a “hundred lashes” is not nearly enough. No matter how much you talk to them or punish them, they still try to do what they want to do, when they want to and how they want to. They just won’t listen. Essentially they want to run the show. (Maybe you were that child in your family). Sometimes parents have to let “life” be their teacher, and teach them the “hard way” lessons that could have been learned the “easy way”.
Unfortunately, the “problem child” attitude and behaviors don’t go away with childhood; they are evident and common in adults too. When it comes to yielding ourselves to God’s wisdom, we resist; we want to “run the show”, and become our own “gods”, doing what we want, when we want, how we want. We become “wise in our own eyes”.
In Isaiah 30:1-2 and verse 9, the prophet chastises Israel for their “problem child” ways. They didn’t listen to, or follow the Word of God and got deep into idolatry. Isaiah wasn’t the only one sent to warn Israel though…Amos, Hosea and Micah all tried to warn the northern kingdom during the same general time period. God eventually used “life” (the Assyrian invasion of 722 BC) to get them to repent and develop a teachable heart.
Are there areas in your life where you have become a “problem child”? Is God sending you warnings to change your ways, or of impending correction that you are ignoring? Are you setting yourself up for “a hundred lashes”?
Don’t be a “problem child”. Humble yourself before God. He is faithful and just to forgive you. He just wants you back into close fellowship with Him. Hear the words the prophet Joel which show the heart of our Lord:
“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. (Joel 2:12 – 13)
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