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I remember a day long ago when I was just a boy, and on that day my father told me to stop what I was doing and come help him hold a board he was going to measure and saw.
Being a surly young man of eleven that I was, I asked him why, and my father put a hand on my shoulder, shoved me against the wall, and shook his fist in my face and said, "Because I'm your father who brought you into this world, and I gave you an order, and if you don't respect me enough already because of that, I will beat you till you learn to respect me."
My daddy pulled out his pocket Bible and read:
Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; - Ephesians 6:5
With my eyes cast down, I nodded my head and said, "Yes, sir."
I followed my father into the backyard where he had been working, and I helped position a heavy plank for him to measure, mark, and saw.
"Hold this tape measure," he told me, and as he drew the tape out and marked the spot on the board where he would make his cut, my father quoted from scripture:
And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. - Deuteronomy 6:24
He looked at me sternly in silence, and then picked up his saw.
It was a modest handsaw, no doubt the kind JESUS would've used, and my father began sawing away at the board, grunting, and quoting angrily:
O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever! - Deuteronomy 5:29
My father stopped, yanked the saw away from the partially cut board, and shook it at me.
"You and your children, if you ever have any," he said, shaking the saw at me, "would do well to obey the word of GOD and to obey your superiors the way GOD tells you to."
My little heart raced and I felt tears welling up in my eyes at the thought of the hurt and disappointment I had caused my father with my disobedience.
Daddy put the saw back to the board and began hacking away again.
He huffed and puffed, and recited a favorite passage from Deuteronomy:
But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. - Luke 12:5
The saw finally bit through the other side of the board, cleaving it into two separate pieces, with sawdust and my tears falling to the ground as I imagined my little body being flung into HELL like an unwanted scrap.
My father looked up and stared right into my teary eyes, and said:
God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.
The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him:
Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness. - Psalm 52:5-7
Then, my father pointed at me and started laughing hysterically, calling me a little pussy boy and a lost sinner, until I was reduced to bawling.
I fell to my knees, and buried my face in my hands, crying, "I'm sorry, JESUS! I'm sorry! Please don't saw me in half and throw me into Hell!"
I felt a strong hand on my shoulder and I looked up at my father who stood over me with a warm smile.
And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. - Luke 1:50
Friends, I have never told anyone this story over all the long years since it happened, but I felt the LORD wanted me to share it with you now.
Sometimes GOD has to shake His fist at us, and threaten us with our own ruin and damnation in order to get us to straighten up, but I am so very glad He does.
I thank GOD for the valuable lesson about GOD's love that my father taught me that day, and I hope you, too, will be inspired by it.
Being a surly young man of eleven that I was, I asked him why, and my father put a hand on my shoulder, shoved me against the wall, and shook his fist in my face and said, "Because I'm your father who brought you into this world, and I gave you an order, and if you don't respect me enough already because of that, I will beat you till you learn to respect me."
My daddy pulled out his pocket Bible and read:
Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; - Ephesians 6:5
With my eyes cast down, I nodded my head and said, "Yes, sir."
I followed my father into the backyard where he had been working, and I helped position a heavy plank for him to measure, mark, and saw.
"Hold this tape measure," he told me, and as he drew the tape out and marked the spot on the board where he would make his cut, my father quoted from scripture:
And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. - Deuteronomy 6:24
He looked at me sternly in silence, and then picked up his saw.
It was a modest handsaw, no doubt the kind JESUS would've used, and my father began sawing away at the board, grunting, and quoting angrily:
O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever! - Deuteronomy 5:29
My father stopped, yanked the saw away from the partially cut board, and shook it at me.
"You and your children, if you ever have any," he said, shaking the saw at me, "would do well to obey the word of GOD and to obey your superiors the way GOD tells you to."
My little heart raced and I felt tears welling up in my eyes at the thought of the hurt and disappointment I had caused my father with my disobedience.
Daddy put the saw back to the board and began hacking away again.
He huffed and puffed, and recited a favorite passage from Deuteronomy:
But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. - Luke 12:5
The saw finally bit through the other side of the board, cleaving it into two separate pieces, with sawdust and my tears falling to the ground as I imagined my little body being flung into HELL like an unwanted scrap.
My father looked up and stared right into my teary eyes, and said:
God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.
The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him:
Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness. - Psalm 52:5-7
Then, my father pointed at me and started laughing hysterically, calling me a little pussy boy and a lost sinner, until I was reduced to bawling.
I fell to my knees, and buried my face in my hands, crying, "I'm sorry, JESUS! I'm sorry! Please don't saw me in half and throw me into Hell!"
I felt a strong hand on my shoulder and I looked up at my father who stood over me with a warm smile.
And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. - Luke 1:50
Friends, I have never told anyone this story over all the long years since it happened, but I felt the LORD wanted me to share it with you now.
Sometimes GOD has to shake His fist at us, and threaten us with our own ruin and damnation in order to get us to straighten up, but I am so very glad He does.
I thank GOD for the valuable lesson about GOD's love that my father taught me that day, and I hope you, too, will be inspired by it.
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