For a man’s ways are before the eyes of ADONAI [LORD], and He observes all his paths. Proverbs 5:21, TLV
He Sees All — the Good and the Bad. One of my most humiliating events occurred when I was in third grade. I got into trouble. Not just trouble, but a quadruple-portion trouble. My parents had transferred me to a new parochial school because of a bully problem at my previous school — I was the bull-ee not the bully.
I didn’t know how to handle the positive attention and got a bit too big for my ruffled britches. Long-story short, I sassed the teacher — who happened to be the head pastor’s new wife — and was paddled along with another student. In addition to the humiliation of being paddled and having to stand out in the hall with our noses in a corner, we had to write a letter to our parents telling them everything.
Guess what I did? Oh, I wrote the letter — I don’t remember what I wrote — but on the walk home it just “slipped” from my fingers. Because I wasn’t experienced in subterfuge, I hadn’t figured on my teacher calling my parents to see if I had delivered said note. Therefore, I received a double-portion spanking.
Many months later, one of the kids I walked home with happened upon a crumbled, 
weather-beaten piece of notebook paper. Yep. It was the note. He was in sixth grade and cute and I liked him. That, of course, didn’t matter because he read it out loud to the half-dozen or so kids walking with us. Then, he gave it to my younger brother who ran home and showed it to our mother. She then scolded me for my bad behavior, again.
If there had been any doubt that God saw everything, for me there was never, ever a doubt again.
And, by the way, I was never disrespectful to a teacher again.
Why share this?
Why share one of my childhood’s most humiliating moments? In hindsight, I know that our Heavenly Father preserved that piece of paper for months. Through winter snows, and the beginning of spring rains. While it was difficult to read in some spots, there was more than enough for Denny to read. Had I been obedient, taken the note home and given it to my parents, I would have received one punishment.
Instead, I was held accountable for trying to hide my disobedience, twice. Once with my parents — cause I did get a whupping — and second, with the note — the humiliation with my friends. The easier way to learn my first lesson was to take the note home and confess. But I had to learn several lessons, the hard way.
Did God forgive me? Absolutely. Although my parents didn’t know how to walk me through that at the time. I did that later. But sometimes we have to suffer through the consequences in order to learn the hard lessons. And, boy, I sure did.
Have you ever learned a difficult lesson? An indelible one that has stayed with you for years? They’re not fun, but they’re important. Right? Because they live in our memory as a lesson to apply for the rest of our lives.
May we learn those lessons the easier way, my friends. But, in everything, know repentance leads to forgiveness and freedom.
