One night a dearly loved family cat died.
In the morning the father found her in the kitchen, so when the children came downstairs to have breakfast, the father said “don’t go in kitchen, stay in the living room and wait for me”
The father then went into the garden to dig a hole to bury the cat.
The children were getting hungry and didn’t understand why they should not go in the kitchen. They talked amongst themselves. When they realised that the father was not around, they disobeyed him and went into the kitchen.
Seeing the cat, they were distraught and ran out the kitchen door to the father.
Should the father comfort them in their distress, or scald them for disobeying him?
He took them back through another door to the living room and sat them down. Gently he explained that he had given them instructions for their own good, he always had their own good in mind, not to just restrict them, or give them discomfort, in this case hunger.
He then said how upset and disappointed he was that they had disobeyed him, it hurt him because they didn’t trust him.
One said “we didn’t know the cat was dead” another said “she went in first, I just followed”
When they saw how sad their father was, they cried and said they were sorry they had not done as they were told, hugged him and cried some more.
Then the father forgave them, took hold of their hands and they went into the kitchen together to say goodbye to the cat.
It was sad to face their troubles, but it was so much easier with dad with them.
We all like little children have gone astray.
God the Father loves us and wants only the best for us. Sometimes we don’t understand why He tells us not to do something, it seems good, maybe we’ve done it before, like the children in the story wanting breakfast. But we need to trust that the Father knows best even when we don’t understand.
We could blame the Father for letting us suffer and for not being there when we needed him.
If we run to our Father in times of trouble, even if it’s of our own doing, He is faithful and just and takes us back to where we stopped listening to Him and shows us His love.
We may have to recognise our sin of disobedience, we may try excuses, but if we are repentant, He holds our hand and helps to go forward with Him by our side.
1 John 3:1a NIV
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
Written by Jenny Wilkinson