Playing Tickling Games With God

Suggested Reading: Exodus 10:16-11:10

When my son was very young, he and I had a game we liked to play. He would come up and "attack" me when I wasn't expecting it and I would "retaliate" by tickling him. He'd begin to cry out between fits of laughter, "Stop! Stop!" I'd ask if he was going to attack me again and he would promise not to. I'd release him and he would immediately "attack" me again. We would repeat the cycle numerous times until I got worn out or he got tired of being tickled. But the key to the game was my son knowing that I would relent if he promised to stop and my being prepared to tickle again as soon as he attacked.

Throughout history, many people have thought God was playing a similar game with them. Pharaoh was one of them. When God sent Moses to deliver his people from slavery in Egypt, he sent Moses with a repertoire of miracles/plagues to perform against Pharaoh when he refused to cooperate. The first nine of these plagues were temporary kinds of plagues and, when the plague became too much to bear, Pharaoh would promise to comply long enough for God to remove the plague. Pharaoh played a game with God, believing he could go back to doing what he wanted as soon as God relented from the plague. He kept doing it until Moses announced to Pharaoh, “This is what the Lord says: At midnight tonight I will pass through the heart of Egypt. All the firstborn sons will die in every family in Egypt, from the oldest son of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, to the oldest son of his lowliest servant girl who grinds the flour. Even the firstborn of all the livestock will die (Exodus 11:4-6, NLT). Not until a plague arrived that couldn't be taken back - the death of Pharaoh's firstborn son - did Pharaoh realize that God was not playing a game.

How often do we try to play the same kind of game with God? We suffer terrible consequences for sin in our lives and pray for God's mercy, only to return to our ways when the consequences lessen? How often do we end bad habits because life gets tough, only to return to those same habits when things get a little better?

Whether it's mishandling finances or abusing drugs or simply being nonchalant about spending time with God, are we playing with God, hoping things will get better so we can go back to doing our own thing? My son was never able to win the tickle game with me, and we can't expect to win when we play games with God. Isn't it about time we get serious?

Confessing Sins You've Never Committed

Suggested Reading: Nehemiah 1:1-11

My father grew up in a very abusive situation. He, his eight brothers and sisters, and his mother, were constantly under the threat of a physical beating from my grandfather. Abuse is what he learned. A temper is what he was trained to display. But my dad never wanted to treat his children the way his father treated him. So when I was growing up we had a few holes in the walls. They were testaments to both my father's anger and his ironclad will not to repeat the mistakes of his own father by ever laying a finger on us in anger. As the years went by, there were fewer holes in the walls and less outbreaks of anger as he got better and better at behaving the way he wanted to instead of the way he was taught. Though he was far from perfect and didn't always succeed, my father tried to keep in mind the mistakes of his own father and his own desire to never repeat those mistakes.

In the story of Nehemiah, we find Nehemiah praying, seeking God's help in restoring Jerusalem to prosperity. Nehemiah prayed, "let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses" (Nehemiah 1:6-7, NIV). Now, Nehemiah had not been the one to bow down to an idol and incur the wrath of God. Nehemiah had not been the one to ignore God's commands and kill his prophets. Nehemiah had not been the one to worship false gods and teach others to do the same. But Nehemiah had been raised by people who had. Nehemiah had been taught the habits and lifestyles of the people who had done all those things. And Nehemiah was aware of the connection between his forbearers and the penalties for their sin and he was committed to never repeat the mistakes of the past.  

Many of us have been taught horrible and sinful things by the people who came before us and, unfortunately, many of us are teaching the same things to those who are coming after us. But if we are to have hope that the future will improve, if we are to secure the blessing of God for our families and ourselves, we must own up to the mistakes of the past and the habits and lessons we have been taught, even if we are not the ones who actually committed those mistakes. We must be painfully aware of those past sins so that we will never repeat them.

What bad habits have you been taught? What sinful attitudes have you learned from those who came before you? If you are ever to move beyond them, you must first acknowledge them before God as Nehemiah did. If not, you are destined to repeat them.