To spank or not to spank, that is the question

The sky seemed so blue from the top of the mountain. The wind and the birds seem to sing a song of similar refrain, almost an overly peaceful song considering the circumstances, but of course the birds weren’t aware of what was going on. The clouds seemed to stand still as if waiting for the next moment. It just didn’t make sense, the wood, the knife, the fire, but how did this happen?
The wood was sharp and rough against his skin and the rope was tighter than seemed necessary, he hadn’t fought or argued or even protested, just trusted his father. Yet, though he trusted his father, how had he ended up bound upon a pile of wood. He had asked on the way up the mountain, and he knew what his father had told him, even reassured him, that everything was going to be ok. But he never imagined that this was going to be the outcome.
The three day journey had been filled with much talking and learning and he remembered that his father promised they would come back…but, perhaps something had changed, what if his dad was wrong? what if dad misheard? or worse what if this had always been the plan? It didn’t really matter now, the birds were singing, the wind was blowing, the clouds were passing overhead. His father raised the knife…everything seemed to stand still, everything went silent, he closed his eyes…
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We spank our children. Sometimes it feels that we spank all day long. We spank because the Word of God tells us to spank our children.
The world of modern medicine and psychology tells us that spanking is bad for our children. Our doctor told us that we will lower our children’s IQ and cause them to become violent criminals if we continue to spank; we still spank.
We had to choose whom to believe. Do we believe our doctor or do we believe God? There is an unending opposition between this world and God. We must choose where our allegiance lies.
Where does your trust ultimately rest? Is it in the wisdom of men or the wisdom of God? Does the final and ultimate authority finally end in God or is man the final authority in all things?
We must decide whom we are going to trust. Man or God.
If God calls you and your family to the mission of the Gospel in a country that persecutes Christians you must decide whom you will trust. Will you listen to this world and not go because of the “well-being” of your family, or will you listen to God knowing that He knows not only perfectly but governs perfectly? Where does your allegiance rest?
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The knife hovered in the air, gripped by a determined hand…“Abraham, Abraham! Do not lay your hand on the child, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have not withheld your son, your only son--blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall posses the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.