Sometimes that Still Small Voice is an Angry 4 Year Old

So this week brought an interesting revelation, one that combined a series of minor note events and balled them up into one big lesson. Let’s start from the top, where in I needed to open my heart to hearing God's word in my everyday life. This came on the heels of a rough Monday which had been okay but ended on a sour note which kind of rolled into just a grumpy evening but the core of it was a conflict with a co-worker. Then I hear no less than three different songs talking about God's justice and how "vengeance is the Lord's". I'm going to come back to that in a bit.

I get home from work on Tuesday and am greeted by my oldest son who's watching one of our favorite movies. He starts chatting with me about nothing particular when my daughter whips into the room and is yelling and pointing at my son, telling me how he "stole" something. Enter yelling match between the two. I send them to their respective rallying points and proceed with my investigation. She said he got into her room and into her cubby and stole a box from there. He obviously denies this because as he logically states and I know full and well, there isn’t anything in that cubby he would want. He’s fourteen, and she’s four. Turns out someone under the age of 3 got in there, but because these specific two kids locked horns earlier in the week (remember it is only Tuesday) she made the leap in logic that it had to be him.

Whew...I know that was a lot but bear with me. The last piece of this puzzle is my re-reading of the story of Jonah. Now Jonah is a biblical figure I love to revisit because you can read so much into basic human nature in him and how it can go askew of what God wants. For those of who aren’t familiar with the story, check out the book of Jonah for the nitty gritty details but what it boils down to; God told Jonah to go all "Johnny Cash" in Nineveh and tell them how if they don't get their act right God's gonna cut them down. Jonah goes the opposite direction because he understands God is an "either/or" parent. Either you clean your room or you don't go to the movies, you either get right with me or I'm going to deal with your shady ways. Nineveh had been doing Israel dirty for generations and Jonah didn't want to extend God's mercy to them and figures if he said "No" that would be the end of it. Cue the fish. So after 3 days the giant fish hocks Jonah on land and he hoofs it to Nineveh and gives what I can only assume is one of the most basic of sermons ever. He then parks on a hill, where waits for God to smite the ever loving heck out of the enemies of his nation. Only nothing happens because they repented.

Vengeance is the Lord's, to be dealt out or restrained as he sees fit, regardless of our own personal grievances. What we think is the situation is probably not the actual situation. My grievance with my co-worker actually had little to do with them and more about what stress I was going through. My daughter's grievance with my son wasn't about a little cardboard box and more about the invasion of her privacy. Her accusations stemmed from feelings built up over events that had nothing to do with the case presented to me. Jonah wanted Nineveh smote because he harbored hard feelings but had no idea what they were dealing with.

So much of our conflicts stem from a very egocentric point of view and, well, that’s okay. We're hard wired in that way. But vengeance is the Lord's to exact or hold back. What is my observation, my take away from all of this? Take it to the foot if the cross, lay it down and forgive who you think you are mad at because God knows. He knows what you are going through, and what you think you are going through. He knows where your "opponent" is at as well. Let God sort it out and get rid of that burden of anger. I say forgive and let it go because you don't want to be Jonah on the hill all butt-hurt because God didn't waste the other guy. We all have better things to do with our time.

Thanks for reading.