Should Have Known

Should Have Known

8/26/14

When I was a youngster I heard this phrase many times immediately after it was found out that I had did something wrong.  This phrase is a telling one since it places all of the blame upon the individual or group of people that are involved in something amiss.  Yet we tend to argue our points to the reasons why we did such ugly things instead of accepting that we should have known the rules and took our punishment. In the same manner we have a tendency to do the exact same thing with God, and challenge His authority over us when we make mistakes.  However, with God He is not the one that is quick to judge or to punish, that only comes when we have reached a certain level. However, there will come a time when we do have to answer for our mistakes and sins and while our accuser will laugh our Creator will state, you should have known.

Every person that is alive has a set of parents.  Even though some of these parents we might not ever meet, both male and female must be present at some point for your creation to occur.  Thus the bloodline is established and your life begins.  I was very lucky to have a great set of parents that was always there for me and even up to this day are still there for me and my family, even at a moment’s notice.  I have heard horror stories about parents and how the person’s family was a total disaster and every other type of story in between.  While I cannot say that every household is always fair for everyone, I know that mine was and when I did get into trouble….well, I deserved it.

Mom and dad made sure that I followed the rules of the house and while I found that some of those rules I did not like they were in place for a certain reason.  Mom and dad never hid anything from me especially when it came to right and wrong, both of them were right on the money when it came to this area.  They never once hid the rules of the house from my friends either so if they wanted to be around the family they too had to abide by them.  I basically had no excuses as to break any unknown rules because for each one of them that I did break I fully understood that I could be in big trouble if my actions were found out.  I could not use the excuse that I did not know that the rule of ______ was in place; I always knew what the rules were.

As I grew older and began to understand a little bit more about the world I started to understand how some of the outside laws worked. Listening to some of my friends tell their stories about how they spent the afternoon in court with their parents or sitting in a judge’s chambers and waiting for some private verdict to come down really got me to think about what I did and did not want to push or to experience.  While I really had no complete idea of how the judicial system worked, I eventually picked up on some things about the specifics of certain laws.  Most of which dealt with driving and the concepts of being behind the wheel.

While it did not seem fair to us teenagers that we could not drive in any form or fashion that we wished, it did not take us long to understand how the laws worked and why they were put into place.  Some of the stories that my friends were telling made my memory jog back to when I took drivers education and how my instructor specifically covered the areas that my friends were complaining about and how they did not know about those laws.  If I was aware of them and at that time I had been driving for some time that they should have remembered what their instructors said as well. 

When some of my other friends began to argue along with those that were complaining and they themselves questioned the laws the ones who were actually in trouble made a huge statement of why they still had to pay the fine and to accept points on their license.  They mentioned the fact that after they presented their case to the judge his ruling still came down against them solely based upon the fact that the laws were in place and that by being issued a drivers license that they should have been aware of the laws governing that entity.

At the time I did not recognize that the rules of my parent’s house and the laws governing everyone else around me had basically the same principles involved.  The phrase “should have known” really takes into consideration the responsibility of a person after they have become part of any community or organization.  It was not until decades later that this phrase clicked into my head that both set of laws were deemed important for my life and that there were reasons why these laws were in place.  After a while of trying to figure the laws of our land out, it dawned on me the real reason why that phrase was put in place within the context of the laws.  It was a simple phrase and its meaning was totally justified for if it the phrase was not there then anyone who broke the law once, could have legitimate reasons to use the concept of “I did not know” as their sole reasoning and according to the law could be exempt from that law the first time around.

What a novel idea of placing that phrase into the laws of the land and it is a statement which changes the entire code of ethics on both sides of the issue.  The phrase puts into play the usage of our minds and that since our minds are a part of each of us we have the opportunity to obey or to break laws.  And when a law is broken and we are deemed a citizen of the land, then every misfortunate act made by such person is subject to that specific law.  This phrase as it is written means that every person has the responsibility to read and to understand the laws of the land and to make the choice whether or not to obey them or not.  The human mind is a fascinating organ that one can place into overdrive when trying to get out of trouble and this phrase stops that process from occurring as much as possible.

Speaking of the human mind and its ability to change or to try and change its situation, human laws do indeed change over time.  There is not really any formal reason as to why a person could not sheer sheep after 5 pm on Wednesdays any longer, nor is there any reason that people cannot whistle inside their offices on Saturday either.  It is kind of funny when you look back at some of the laws that were on the books in the 1800s and early 1900s; and some are still in the books today in fact.  We can see this pattern occurring in our world today with many issues being challenged on all levels of the judicial system.  Whether we like these laws or not the pattern of human change is constant and the laws of the land will eventually be a direct reflection of how said humans think and believe.  Change is one of the prerogatives that humans like to exploit amongst ourselves and when this change occurs we cannot help but to flaunt the new state.

The human brain is one of the more complicated organs that we have residing within our bodies.  It is very complex and as of this moment we only know about 20% of its abilities and its capabilities, which means we have a long way to go in studying this dynamic organ of ours. The brain is developed when we are young and it continues to accept knowledge as long as we allow it to come into contact with outside information.  It is our choice whether or not to use this organ at its capacity and while we all have a brain it is evident that sometimes we do not use it very wisely.  But in order for us to read, walk, talk and eat we must use the energy and electrical pathways that our brain provides.  This means that everyone has the knowledge to understand or to ignore what has been provided for them and in this case we are talking about laws. 

One area that we tend to argue about is the area in which God has established laws for His people and how we react to them when we have read their meaning.  Many of us love to argue our interpretation of God’s laws for we can do this in such a manner that it can support our ways of believing.  We also categorize this method by acknowledging that since it is a human thing to change that we can automatically change God’s laws to compensate just as the human laws dictate.  The question remains if this swapping and changing of God’s Laws is possible and why would we even consider them vulnerable to change in the first place.  The answer to that question of changing God’s Laws is an absolutely NO!  God cannot change and since God cannot change His laws cannot change either and it is important that we remember this in ALL circumstances.

We currently have some prominent people along with many “unknown” people within the church walls that seem to believe that they have found a way to justify their habits and beliefs that go contrary to God’s Word.  This is a very dangerous practice but one that has been predicted to come to pass, so in other words, God already has known about these people and how they have intended to try and change His laws to suit their actions.  I know that I have done many things in my life that I am not proud of and at the same time I understand that when I stand before God I will have to account for all of these things.  I also know that I have violated His Covenant many times as well and I deserve nothing better than to be destroyed in such a manner that my molecules within my body should be wiped away from living record, but for some reason His love and grace has covered me as long as I accept Him into my life and do my best to keep His ways, laws and covenant within my heart and mind.

I do not even want to dare to try and test God on His ways and laws with my limited and finite mind.  To be short and brutally honest, if someone tries this and actually believes it I really feel sorry for you because you have no chance of winning; for if you in front of God’s throne defending yourself and trying to escape the consequences, it is already too late my friend.  See, when God instructed the people to write His laws God could not change, when God showed the prophets of what was occurring within the nations, God could not change His ways and when it is our turn to stand in front of Him and give account, God still cannot change His ways or laws.

It is through His Word that brings into play the same phrase that our human laws have and that is “should have known”.  Since at that time it will be between you and God the word “you” is a given and really does not need to become a factor.  So that leaves the phrase should have known and God will say something to the effect that He provided us with every possible form of information in order that we would understand Him as much as our minds could fathom.  His word even says this directly which proves that humans do have the capability to read and understand the laws of God and then have the choice to abide by them or to ignore them and go on about their own business without God.

When Eve was tricked in the Garden she was allowed to have a “do over” and the consequences were set and the results final.  She believed the enemy and he won victory over the human race for that moment for he too understood that God could not change His ways after disobedience had been achieved.  Our enemy is good at convincing us that we know better for our individual lives than God does. To some extent he wins this argument for many of us and it is evident that he wins this argument with many people who attend church.

Testing God and seeing how far He will budge is a process that I do not recommend.  Not many people have done this and actually survived the process.  But in every case no matter how hard the human has tried to change things, God has always completed His mission without wavering.  This process has been tested and proven probably billions of times over by the human race and I can guarantee that each time God has been correct and just.  So why do we believe that we are any better than the previous billions of people?  We are not! No matter what the scientists have to say nor what technology has made our society into, we are still humans just like Adam and Eve and until God decides to complete His mission with us, that shall never change.

My advice to those who wish to try and challenge God and His ways is to don’t.  The world may coach you along and say that it is your right to do so but that is exactly what the ruler of this world (which is our enemy) wants us to do.  We must remember that he challenged God at one time and was damned to an eternal separation, which in the end all he has to offer those who try and complete this impossible task. 

On the other side of things I do suggest that you try and change your views towards God’s laws in a truthful manner.  Try and understand these ways and laws in a manner coming from a parent and not a dictator.  God’s ways are meant to protect us from so much of the garbage that the world has to offer us and if we learn to embrace these ways we will find that they provide true freedom from this world. We need to study God’s Word and do our best to understand why God put those laws in place due to the history of what transgressed from the Garden onwards.  God loves each and every one of us and it is His responsibility to provide us a way that is best for our lives. What makes God even more spectacular is that He does not force us to choose Him and His ways, He allows us to make that choice for ourselves and when we look at things in this manner it places so much more emphasis upon our choices and how we go about to make them as well.

Read God’s word with an open heart and allow Him to show you why He has chosen to make our road different from others.  Embrace His ways and when you do if will be a freedom not a chain or bondage.  God is calling us to repent of our ways and to see Him for who He really is and not how the condemned world sees Him.  It is the job of our enemy to lie, cheat and steal from us while it is God’s job to provide health, strength and eternal life to us, just as a Creator should.  Restoration is a beautiful process and God desires to begin with you.  For if you do, in which ever direction, the phrase “should have known” may or may not pertain to you.

DLB