Please listen, O Shepherd of Israel,you who lead Joseph’s descendants like a flock.O God, enthroned above the cherubim,display your radiant gloryto Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh.Show us your mighty power.Come to rescue us!Turn us again to yourself, O God.Make your face shine down upon us.Only then will we be saved.O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies,how long will you be angry with our prayers?You have fed us with sorrowand made us drink tears by the bucketful.You have made us the scorn of neighboring nations.Our enemies treat us as a joke.Turn us again to yourself, O God of Heaven’s Armies.Make your face shine down upon us.Only then will we be saved.[. . .]Strengthen the man you love,the son of your choice.Then we will never abandon you again.Revive us so we can call on your name once more.Turn us again to yourself, O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies.Make your face shine down upon us.Only then will we be saved. (Psalm 80:1–7, 17–19 NLT)
Too often for any parent’s liking, when a child doesn’t get their way, it is not unusual for them to pout, throw a fit, or generally act defiant. Sometimes this results in punishment from the parents, such as the loss of privileges or preferred activities; other times the punishment is simply the natural repercussions of the child’s actions, like the death of a plant a child fails to water when they refuse to do their weekly chores.
Yet often, even after they have acted defiantly toward their parents, once emotions have run their course, the child comes back into their parents’ arms, penitent for their actions.
First comes obedience, followed by defiance, then repentance, leading back to obedience once more. And thus the cycle replays, again and again.
When Jesus tells his followers in Matthew 18 that they – and us – must become like little children to enter in his Kingdom, believers across the ages have understood him be referring to the humble and unassuming nature of children, their child-like wonder at the world and affinity toward trust, love, and kindness. Jesus is not asking us to be like children at their worst – defiant and rebellious.
The history of the children of Abraham, in some ways, follows the same story arc of the defiant child. The Israelites decide they want to do their own thing rather than follow the way God is leading them; they act rebellious and feel the repercussions, either punishment from the Lord or the natural result of their rebellious acts; they return to God, sometimes after only a few short years, other times after decades or longer.
Knowing this rebellious cycle, the psalmist calls on God to turn his people back to him: “Turn us again to yourself, O God of Heaven’s Armies. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved” (Psalm 80:7).
This cycle of obedience, defiance, and repentance is visible not just in the history of Israel or in our interactions with our children, but it is also present in our own relationships with God.
Obedience. Defiance. Repentance.
This is a cycle not easy to escape. It is in our sinful nature to be selfish and want to go our own way rather than allow God to direct our steps. The hope, and the goal, is that the periods of obedience grow ever longer and the times between the first moment of defiance and the moment of repentance decrease more and more.
Ideally, as we continue to seek God by following the Way of Jesus and allowing the Spirit to dwell in our hearts and minds, we not only bend the cycle so that those times of obedience grow longer and longer, but we start to break it, through the prompting of the Spirit and as we continue to monitor our own thoughts and hearts. In other words, we “capture [our] rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:5). In doing so, we are better able to recognize when we are starting to renew the cycle and becoming defiant.
Practice taking every thought captive today. This might look like living in a constant state of prayer, inviting the Spirit to direct your thoughts. Or maybe you keep track of the errant thoughts that flash through your head and examine what sparked them or where they originated. Regardless of how you capture every thought, know that you are working to break, or at least bend, the cycle of obedience, defiance, and repentance that so often entangles us as God’s children.