It is interesting to see that the seat which God sits upon, is called the Mercy Seat. Under that seat, within the Ark, is the broken Law of God.
There are many beautiful truths that jump out at you regarding who God really is, when studying the Ark and the Mercy Seat alone. The Lord called to my heart on one area pertaining to how we parent our children,; and it is this what I am about to share with you briefly today:
God's seat, is also called His 'Throne' (see Hebrews 4:16). The term 'Throne', implies that the person sitting upon it is a King, and therefore has a kingdom which he rules. The Mercy Seat is the Throne that our Father sits upon, and He, the King of Kings rules His kingdom (our lives and hearts) with mercy and His Law.
It is so comforting to know that when we come to God, the Mercy Seat is on top of the broken Law, meaning that if we have sinned, regardless of how big that sin was, the very first response we can be sure to get from our heavenly Father is mercy. God delights in Mercy (see Micah 7:18), no matter what we have done!
What is God trying to say to me and you as parents?
Just like God, mothers we have a specific royal position:
The mother is the queen of the home, and the children are her subjects.
She is to rule her household wisely, in the dignity of her motherhood.
Her influence in the home is to be paramount; her word, law.
{The Adventist Home, 232.1}
As a queen of my kingdom (the hearts and lives of my children), I am to govern them with set laws of conduct for what God expects of them. However, not only am I to rule my home with these laws, but also with mercy, for the hundreds of times that they will just not seem to "get it".
It's so easy to say "Amen" now, but are we so ready and delightful to extend mercy as our first response to our children when they disobey us? How about when we have given them clear instruction on how to attend to a partcular chore in the home, but it appears that they have not been carefully listening to you, and they have to go back and do it again.....Is mercy what you are so longing to give them in that moment?
No doubt there is a time for consequences to be issued for inappropriate behaviour, but can our children feel confident that even in the midst of our disciplining they will receive mercy from our hearts?
Let it be our prayer, mothers, for God to give us the patience and mercy from the heart that will automatically spring up when the law of the home has been broken.
