Toddlers in the Eyes of God

“Foolishness is bound in the heart of the child”. I’m pretty sure I just heard every parent ever shout their agreement to that. There’s a good deal of disagreement about the wisdom and/or morality of the second half that verse (Proverbs 22:15, btw), but Solomon sure nailed the first half, right?

This week has been a bit of a doozy in terms of the foolishness springing up out of the hearts of my children. (And yes, I know it’s only Wednesday.) We reach the end of some days, and I think to myself, “They’re actually turning into reasonable people”. Today was not one of those days. In a strange way though, I’m thankful for the reminder. 

I’ve said for years that our relation to God can be better understood if we just think of ourselves as toddlers. He’s our Father; we’re His children; we do dumb stuff ALL the time; some of it’s malicious and intentional, but a lot of it is because we’re just clumsy and stupid; and He loves us anyway. We’re toddlers. And foolishness is bound up in our hearts too. No wonder we’re told that the Lord disciplines the one He loves (Pr 3:11-12; Heb 12:5). When that discipline comes though, do we accept it and see it for what it is, a mark of our sonship and evidence of the goodness and mercy of the Lord, and heed it? Or do we continue to play the toddler and rail against it as the outworkings of a meanspirited killjoy?

Through Christ, we’re adopted into the family of God. Christ as Lord allows us to call God our Father, and discipline is part of that. I’m thankful for the wisdom of the Lord though; His discipline is never too harsh.