A little advice.....

Numbers 21

"There's nothing to eat here, and nothing to drink and we hate this wretched manna!"  (21:5)

"I'm so bored.  I have NOTHING to wear.  There's nothing to eat or drink around here.  I always have to be home earlier then my friends.  I hate my room, it's so small!"  

The first quote was from the Israelites in a passage I read this week.

The second quote?  My teenage daughter, earlier that same day.  

I couldn't help but notice they are eerily the same.  I curiously read on to the next few verses, wondering how God was going to respond...."Come on God, give me some good parenting wisdom here.  Gimme something good.  I'm all ears."  

Apparently, He sends poisonous snakes....

*silence*

"OK.  Reading on...."

...and many were bitten and died.

"Well, then..." 

I did read on to find that, once again loving His children with an unfailing love, He extends grace to them by giving them way out.  A loop hole.  

He does not take away the punishment, (even though they begged Moses to pray for snake removal) - He just tells them instead to "look up".  "Look up at the pole and you will recover from the bite."

He didn't take away the snakes.  He didn't even stop them from getting bit.  They still suffered the punishment - but they were rescued from death.

One more very important thing I noticed was that God only extended grace after they repented.  After they admitted that they had sinned against God by speaking against Him.

So, now I only have one thing left to figure out...

..where can I get a snake?

I joke. 
A little.

...don't judge me until you've had a teen.