Human Authority in the Hands of a Skillful God

Each of us has a multitude of character deficiencies that need to be perfected. God uses those in authority to do this.

"Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, and the rod of correction shall drive it away." (Proverbs 22:15)

God assures us that the heart of one who is in authority is in His hand, and that He turns it in the same way He does a winding river by using the pressure of the current and time.

"As the divisions of waters, so the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord: whithersoever he will he shall turn it." (Proverbs 21:1)

God's Persistence in Character Development:

God is even more concerned that our character become like Christ Jesus then He is in which "instruments" He uses to accomplish this. Therefore, if we push away or get out from under the reproofs and authority of our parents, God only has to raise up new "tools" to chip away at the rough edges of our character.

Two examples:

• A teenager would say in disgust, I'm sick and tired of taking orders from my parents! I am going to run off and join the military!"
• A girl would often use marriage as a way to escape the pressure of parents'-only to have god begin to begin to use her husband to carry on His work of character development.

[Let it be known that most of these lessons I have been writing are taken from the Institute in Basic Life Principles with a few changes here and there. Also the scripture references were changed from the King James version to the Douay Rheims Version of the Bible. The Institute in Basic Life Principles is a Protestant organization, and they are not recommended by His Holiness or the Church for that reason.]