October 19-25
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My family watched Treasure Planet last night. It was one of my favorite movies as a kid, and it was awesome sharing it with my kids last night. In the movie, we see Jim, a rebellious and angry teenager. His mom is trying to take care of him on her own because his father abandoned them, but Jim makes it pretty difficult. He is remarkably intelligent, but in the beginning, the image is formed that he has repeatedly gotten into trouble.
His mother has no idea how to handle the situation because she can’t protect him by forcing him to choose a life that’s good for him. I don’t know about Jim’s mom, but I feel like I would be yelling at my child, “Why can’t you see?! Why can’t you see that there is a whole life out there worth building? There is so much happiness to take hold of! Please don’t do this. Please don’t throw away your life and enter a cycle that is very difficult to crawl out of.”
The movie goes on and Jim has an awesome character arc and figures out his life and ends up taking care of his mother, but I can’t help but think about beginning-of-the-movie Jim. It doesn’t matter that he’s smart. It doesn’t matter that he has a home and food. It doesn’t matter that his mom loves him. It doesn’t matter that he has everything he needs to build a life worth living. Jim is headed towards his own destruction. He’s a step away from Juvenile Hall, and that doesn’t bother him. He’s too angry to make the kinds of choices that will build a worthwhile life.
And in real life, we often find that kids who are choosing trouble have a hard time getting out of it later. Their life becomes plagued with addiction or past legal records that prevent them from moving on even when they want to. Needless to say, it was a very different experience watching this movie as a child in comparison to watching it as an adult. As a child, I empathized with Jim. As an adult, I obviously empathize with the mother.
As I read the chapters for this week, my mind circled back to Jim and his mom again. I realized that Heavenly Father empathizes with Jim’s mother as well. In many ways, Israel is a rebellious teenager. They’re bent on choosing a path towards their own destruction, and Heavenly Father won’t force them to choose what’s right. Rather, He gets to sit and watch while His children reject the home, food, love, and blessings He has offered to them.
Here is something He asks Jeremiah to tell them.
Jeremiah 2:19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts.
Your wickedness will correct you. My fear is not in you. Let’s talk about those phrases in reverse order.
The fact that they don’t have the fear of God in them once again reminds me of Jim’s mother. Jim did not see the wisdom of his mother’s words. He didn’t see her sacrifices. He didn’t see how hard she was working to take care of him and how his choices were deeply affecting her. He didn’t fear her. In modern language, he didn’t respect her. I think he loved his mom, but that awe and attunement to her wisdom was absent.
And because he didn’t respect her, he didn’t listen. Movies are movies, and they often turn out differently than real life and so I will probably stop using Jim as an example at this point. In real life, that lack of respect means that we ignore God and His warnings, and eventually, that lack of respect is going to lead us into choices that will punish us. It will lead us to choices that will bring about our own destruction. Our wickedness will teach those difficult lessons.
We see this with Israel, and more relevantly, we see this in our own society.
There are a million examples of how ignoring the words of the Lord can lead to heartbreak, and yet, we don’t fear Him. We think we know what we’re doing. We think we can handle it. Everyone who is pushing for the Lord’s words is just judgy, and the world suffers for it.
I give one example.
I went to a wedding that had alcohol a few years ago. The wedding was nice. Everything was fine. The reception started afterwards. And at first, it was still all fine. I absolutely LOVE dancing, and I got to dance like crazy. It was a ton of fun. But by the end of the night, I started to see some weird things happening. Married spouses were dancing a little too friendly with each other. One of those married spouses tried dancing a little too close to me, and I dipped out. I didn’t see anything happen that would likely break up a marriage in a night.
But I did see very skewed boundaries. I saw a lot of people making decisions that they wouldn’t make otherwise. I saw behaviors that would breed worry and distrust. I honestly haven’t been around alcohol much in my life despite growing up in Texas, and so this was really the first time that I saw how alcohol can affect a person firsthand.
I understand that there are a million marriages out there that are fine despite two adults drinking alcohol.
I also know that a majority of my personal friends (I suppose I can’t speak for every single one of those friends) have had at least one deeply difficult experience happen to them under the influence of alcohol. And dare I say it… they were destructive experiences. There were stupid situations that would have never happened without alcohol. Despite the fact that they didn’t enter their evening with malicious intent and despite the fact that they’re wonderful, incredible human beings, and despite the fact that those experiences shouldn’t have happened, those destructive experiences did happen.
Surely we should be able to go out into the world 100% vulnerable, but that is not the world that we live in. The Lord is wise. He knows this. He knows the danger. He tries to protect us.
When we don’t recognize His love and omnipotence, when we don’t respect Him and all that He has to offer in our lives, when we ignore His warnings and protective barriers, then it is more likely that we will find difficult and destructive experiences.
That is not to victim-blame. If you’ve had alcohol and found yourself in that kind of destructive experience, you didn’t deserve what was coming to you. I sincerely believe that. You’re not morally abhorrent. You didn’t ask for it.
Rather, I use these principles to warn those who come after. Listen to the Lord. He knows what He’s talking about. You can do everything right, and bad things can still happen, but those protective barriers keep out much of the harm. I will preach what could potentially prevent harm.
Listen to Him! He’s not trying to boss you around for fun. He’s not bossing you around because He’s a narcissist. He doesn’t punish you because you offended His ego by not listening. He is trying to protect you against very real, negative influences in the world. He’s trying to prevent pain that isn’t necessary to your growth.
I testify that the Lord loves you. He is watching you. He is watching the situation of the world around you. He seeks to protect you. Following Him has been nothing but a blessing in my life. I am so, so grateful for His wise counsel.
