It's Too Hot

Motherhood has opened my eyes to so many things, and has shown me the love of God in a way that I had never experienced before becoming a mom.

I often have these 'aha' moments with my daughter where I think to myself, "That must be how God feels when ______."

Not too long ago, I was baking some homemade chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen and my daughter being curious - as most toddlers are - wanted to help. I let her help me mix the dough up, which left her a bit messy, as you can probably imagine.

The kitchen faucet was running and the water was super hot- so, I warned her not to touch the water yet, or else she would get hurt.

Sure enough, as most kids do, she did the exact opposite of what I had just warned her about. She stuck her little hand under that piping hot water and started to cry, holding her hand. Even though she didn't listen to me, I showed her sympathy, consoled her and kissed her hand until she felt better.

Moments later, I thought about the parallelism between me and my daughter and God and His children.

Doesn't God tell us the same thing? What do we do when God says, "It's too hot!"

Don't get into that relationship - it's too hot.

Don't take that position - it's too hot.

Not that direction, I've got something better planned - it's too hot.

'It's too hot' is the metaphor for something negative in our lives that might be a detriment to us. We can't always see ahead, but God sees all (Proverbs 15:3).

Yet, even when we hear His voice and instructions clearly, sometimes we choose to do the exact opposite of what we've been warned about.

In my life, I've done countless things that I was convicted NOT to do beforehand- but, I kept going.

And thankfully, we serve a God who is merciful and offers grace no matter how many times we stumble (Deuteronomy 7:9). No matter how many times I've put my hands under hot water, He has always been right there to console me afterwards- just as I was with my daughter.

But, how much better would it be if we would just listen to God and take heed to his instruction before we get hurt? We would save ourselves a world of trouble if we did.

I challenge you (and myself) to listen to God the first time when He tells you that something is too hot.

Put it down.

Walk away from it.

And be confident in knowing that whatever He has for you on the other side of that heat is far better than risking being burned for an ounce of satisfaction.