What's Wrong With That Child?

We do not like to be limited. Part of my job as a teacher is to place limits on children and every day I encounter a youngster that takes great offense to that. I confess that one of my first reactions is to say to myself, “What is wrong with that child?” But I often react in a similar fashion when others place limits on me. I very much resented it the other morning when the drive-thru teller at a local fast-food restaurant told me I could not order lunch because they were still serving breakfast. They begin serving lunch at 11am and it was approximately 10:58am.

I am thankful that the Holy Spirit was with me and made me conscious of how I handled this situation. There was a part of me that wanted to march inside the restaurant and complain to a manager. But would I have been right to do so? After all, wasn’t the teller just doing her job? Would I have been honoring the Lord by indulging my wounded pride? There’s one other reason I’m thankful for the Spirit’s guidance in that instance: my six year old daughter was with me. Would I have been setting a good example of forgiveness by dwelling on the situation? Would I have been showing love to my neighbor by blaming this poor drive-thru teller or the store manager for the difficulty I was having ordering lunch?

My Life Application Study Bible suggests that Miriam and Aaron were not made as conscious of the way they handled a situation in which they criticized their brother Moses. They were jealous of their sibling’s importance to the people of Israel. After all, he’d lead them out of Egypt. He’d delivered God’s Law to them. He was leading them to the Promised Land. In Miriam’s case, specifically, she realized that she- the sister that had helped preserve Moses’ life and had watched over him as he grew into a man- was no longer the most important woman in his life after he took a wife.

God had this to say in response to their criticism:

6 [H]e said, "Listen to my words:
"When a prophet of the LORD is among you,
I reveal myself to him in visions,
I speak to him in dreams.
7 But this is not true of my servant Moses;
he is faithful in all my house.
8 With him I speak face to face,
clearly and not in riddles;
he sees the form of the LORD.
Why then were you not afraid
to speak against my servant Moses?" (Numbers 12:6-8)

In light of this swift admonishment and the resulting punishment, I am grateful for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in my situation at the drive-thru. The Lord could have chastised me in many different ways if I had pursued the whims of my pride. But most of all, I am grateful that He prevented me from being a bad reflection of the love of Christ in me. I am grateful that the Spirit limited my pride and my desire to serve myself. I make God say, “What is wrong with that child?” often enough.