Where is God when I need a kick in the pants?

I know, that is not your typical Christian blog beginning, but it just felt needed today. I did edit it to give it a PG rating. We all ask where God is when we are going through hardships, struggles and challenges. We plead with him when the world seems against us and there is nowhere to turn, but what about when we are just rebelliously trodding down the wrong path.

As a parent there have been times I realized my kids needed a good swift kick in the seat of their pants. I tried to reason with them, I tried timeouts and taking away privileges, but those things didn’t deter them in the least. The only thing they were going to understand was the firm, swift application of a rod, switch or yardstick to their hindside.

I think maybe God has his version of the yardstick. We sure see it in the Old Testament when he exercised his anger and wrath against his enemies. While sending the children of Israel into Babylonian Captivity was a punitive act, it was also intended to bring about repentance, but what about today? Does God have a New Testament version of taking us to the woodshed?

I am a stubborn person! There is no getting around it. I am just arrogant enough to think I’m right, that I can circumvent the rules and get away with it, only to learn that “the way of the transgressor is hard.” You really can’t escape the consequences of a rebellious heart.

That brings me to all those biblical words that stick in my throat sometimes: submission, surrender, there are even times that we are called “slaves.” That is what I always aspired to – a life of slavery. Problem is God's system works. Dylan said, “you’ve got to serve somebody. It may be the devil, or it may be the Lord, but your gonna have to serve some body.” Now Bob Dylan is not my spiritual advisor, but he got it right on this one.

I can’t understand why it is so hard at times for that to sink in. My life is better, I tend to be happier and things work out when I walk with God. Jeremiah tried to tell us, “It is not in man to direct his own steps.” So knock me upside the head with a 2 X 4, send me to the woodshed, bring my heart again into submission to your will.