Father Knows Best

English: Sugar cubes. Español: Terrones de azúcar. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

       Teach me to do your will,
    for you are my God; 
may your good Spirit
    lead me on level ground.

Psalm 143:10

New International Version (NIV)

         When I was a child of about 3 or 4 years old, my family went out to eat at a restaurant.  There on the table I marveled at a most wonderful discovery.  In a glass container on the table were sparking white cubes of what I discovered to be crystallized sugar.  I made this discovery when out of curiosity I took one of these cubes out and tasted it.  Upon realizing the sweetness of it I popped it into my mouth and ate it.

         My father having seen what I had done warned me not to eat any more of the sugar cubes because they would make me sick.  Yet the temptation was too strong.  I desired the sweetness and popped another cube into my mouth and then another.  My father continued his admonitions not to eat, but whenever he wasn't looking I would eat another.

         I suppose my father could have removed the sugar bowl from my reach or even punished me there on the spot and humiliated me in front of the entire restaurant.  Then again, perhaps he was allowing me to learn my lesson about making bad choices and doing things I've been told not to do.  Not listening to wise counsel can have its consequences.

         Later, after we left the restaurant and got to the car, I began to get a bad feeling in my gut.  All that sugar in one little boy was having its effect.  I suddenly threw up before getting inside the car.  I did not feel well at all.

         "I told you eating those sugar cubes would make you sick," my father said in a gentle tone.

          I realized then that my father told me things for good reason.  Everything we do has a consequence.

...this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome...

1 John 5:3