REBELLIOUS EBONY!

My black cat, Ebony, is about 15 years old.
She has gone really silly with age.
One of the things she does is to rebel against anything and everything!
She is so determined to do things her way, and no one else’s. Silly isn’t it.
Well, we always wanted her to come inside more, she is a real outside cat.
She likes to sun herself in the garden during the day, and catch mice outside at night. (We have lots of mice here, they come to eat the chook food).
We say it is no use having this cat, she is no company for us.
But something different has happened. She did an awful mess in the house
[only because she is an old lady now, normally she was very clean],
so we decided she would have to stay out altogether.
No one let her in when she wanted to come in.
We blocked the door and said, NO!”  We fed her outside too.

Now Ebony has had a change of heart.
She wants to come in all the time now, she wants to be an inside cat.
She is such a rebel. She seems to have changed her mind because we have.
She was a one person cat, now she tries  to smooch up to everyone.
She wants to do the exact opposite of what our house rules are.
That is the crazy thing about rebellion, don’t you think?

A lot of kids get rebellious as they grow older.
They might be great as young children, but when they reach their teens they turn into rebels. They want to do the exact opposite of what the rules are.
Or they want to do the exact opposite of what parents, pastors or teachers tell them.
I guess they can get a bit like old Ebony. Just changing their minds about stuff just because they want to be rebels. Now this is understandable in a way.
We all want to grow up and stop being treated like children when we are teens.
But the way to show how grown up we are becoming is to act with sense and see reason - like adults are supposed to do. Co-operation never hurt anyone.
It makes for peace and calm with other people.

What does God’s Word say about rebellion?
It has a lot to say about it, and we can see that any rebellion against proper rules and other people is really rebellion against the Lord Himself!

“For rebellion is as the sin of witch-craft, and stubborn-ness is as iniquity
[sin ] and idolatry [ worshipping statues ]. Because thou hast rejected
[ refused to obey ] the word of the LORD, ... “ ( 1 Samuel 15:23).

Now what does this verse mean?
How can rebellion be like witch-craft and worshipping idols or statues?

Both those things are a way of turning away from God, and going in the other direc-tion. When kids are rebels they only want to obey themselves, and they don’t want to take notice of God’s commands.

Here is one thing God tells  young people:

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.  Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first command-ment with promise) “
( Ephesians 6:1,2).

O.K., so you think

“but my parents don’t always understand me.
There are all sorts of matters that I have to handle,
and they don’t always realise how important my doings are to me.”

This may be true, but the best way to deal with this problem is to tell God about it.
Ask Him to help when there are disagreements, ask to Him to show you how to get through to your parents. But never just be a rebel. It never works, because then you are disobeying the Lord. Sure you have your rights, you are a human being.
But always try to co-operate in the Lord.

What happened to my old black cat?
After prayer we worked out that she had only ever, in her whole life, made a messes under my desk in my office. She was ill once and we put in there to rest, she sees my office as safe perhaps. So we let her in the house, but always make sure my office door is closed before we do. We have had no more trouble.
See what co-operation can do?
Everyone is happy.

Never try to be a rebel just for the sake of it, like Ebony.
“ An evil man seeketh only rebellion:...” ( Proverbs 17:11).

Obeying is for the whole family, not just you.
Your parents have to obey the Lord as well:

“And shalt [ shall ] return unto [ to ] the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou [ you ] and thy children, with all thine [your ] heart, and with all thy soul; “
( Deuteronomy 30:2).

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