Josee’, my Siamese cat has a disobedient side. She likes to
do what she likes to do. If she knows it is against the rules for her she waits
until we can’t see her and does it anyway. One of her obstinate offences is
hopping up on the kitchen countertop, then maybe the top of the fridge and
possibly the top of the upper cabinets. I understand she is just being a cat.
However, we still don’t like this.
We have prepared consequences for her actions. When she
decides to hop up there, she has a surprise for her. We have placed mousetraps
upside down. When she bumps it, “SNAP” and her feet will be a blur under her,
but she won’t be getting much traction. The idea is that she will remember
being “attacked” and stay off the counter. (This has worked well for other cats
we have owned and never harmed one).
Whether you want to argue about whether this sea monster was
a fish or a whale doesn’t matter. The point is that God had prepared it to
swallow Jonah. God had it in the area for just this moment. The fish didn’t
know why until he heard a big splash and swam over to investigate. The sailors
were watching Jonah swimming when suddenly a big mouth opened up around Jonah
and he was gone. Just a swirl of water and Jonah’s dying ripples. The water
returned to its calm state, as if he had never been there.
I have always thought about how God has a home prepared for
me in heaven. But, I had never really thought about God having a consequence
prepared for me, just like He has blessings for me for doing right.
“Now the LORD had
prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the
fish three days and three nights.” Jonah 1:17.
© copyright Kevin T Boekhoff
https://tugsandnudges.wordpress.com/2015/10/20/creative-consequence/
No comments:
Post a Comment