A Lesson God Used My Puppy to Teach Me:
I’d been struggling and wrestling with some serious thoughts and feelings for at least a few months. By struggling and wrestling with, I mean I’d come to realize these thoughts and feelings were wasting my time and holding me back from real peace and joy in my life and keeping me from moving forward and growing into the life I’m supposed to be living. Finally, clarity came and as I was just short of giving up on ever overcoming this obstacle, deliverance was granted.
Stunned at how suddenly I was liberated from this bondage, I prayed and thanked God for finally bringing me out the other side. I praised Him and basically just found myself in awe of how easily He removed the burden, just at the moment I was ready to throw in the towel. I paused for a moment just to be still and know that He is God and then I asked, “God, how is it that You are always there every time I need You the most?” He replied, “Have I not promised to NEVER leave you or forsake you?”
Here’s what a simple moment of silent acknowledgement of His presence, love for me and greatness pointed out:
He never just magically shows up when we need Him the most. It only appears as such to us because when in a struggle (especially a lengthy one) we tend to get so caught up in our circumstances that we simply forget to look for Him in every aspect of our day. This is why it’s so important for us to push aside pride and self-sufficiency when things are all seemingly ok and running smoothly in our lives, and spend time every day just thanking Him for the season of blessing as we go through it. If it becomes our very nature to acknowledge and be grateful for His presence in our good times, then our default setting as we enter into trials life is sure to throw at us will also be to turn to Him and seek His guidance as He leads us through life’s valleys. He’s always there right beside us…like He promised to ALWAYS be. As flawed, sinful humans, we just can’t ever seem to remember Jesus’ simple command to SEEK FIRST.
Now in this particular trial, I’d prayed asking for help, understanding and the ability to move past these things; and I’d been looking for answers in my Bible diligently with seemingly no luck in finding what I needed. I’m sure my prayers had evolved more into grumbling and complaining sessions than actual prayers as time passed. This thought was brought to my attention by my year-and-a-half-old Jack Russell puppy recently.
This summer has been so miserably hot and dry that we have spent an abnormally large percentage of our days inside the house. My hyper puppy gets bored and whimpers and whines as she begs for attention and entertainment. I find myself scolding her and telling her that she “is just fine, daddy loves her, she has everything she needs to live a happy life and everything is gonna be alright.” Five minutes later, she’s whining and whimpering, seeking attention again.
As we continually cycled through this little routine of ours, it hit me one day. I’m just like my hyper puppy. Life always has me in a hurry, bouncing from one task to the next. Whenever I slow down for a minute, I start stewing over the problems or issues in my life and go whining to God about them; over and over again; just like I did the last time I paused from being busy. The similarities made me literally laugh out loud. I thought to myself, “I wonder if God ever gets tired of my whining and whimpering, like I sometimes do with my puppy?”
Now that was a purely rhetorical thought, because I knew the answer: God never loses His patience with us as His adopted children. He loves us infinitely and has infinite patience with us. I know this because my Bible tells me so. But I was still amused and nudged into deeper ponderance of the concept.
Just like I tell my puppy, the Bible tells us that God loves us and will provide for our every need if we will just remember to seek first. That’s not just in our Bible, it’s part of a direct quote from Jesus himself in one of my favorite passages of scripture found in Matthew 6:25-34.
SEEK FIRST…seek what?…
Seek to know Who God is.
Seek to understand His love for us and how much He thinks of us.
Seek to understand who He says we are through His eyes.
Seek to grow our faith in His word and His promises to the point that we don’t just believe IN God, but instead to the point that we actually just BELIEVE God…regardless of how our surrounding circumstances might try, or seem to cloud those beliefs.
Read your Bible to learn what God’s promises are. Then learn to believe them and trust that He is ALWAYS faithful to His word; and find rest in that trust. That’s how we find peace in this life…and it’s the ONLY way we find real and meaningful peace in this life.
Father, forgive me for being too much like my hyper year-and-a-half-old puppy. Give me the strength and focus to continue always in seeking more of You, making me more keenly aware that You are always right beside me looking for my acknowledgment. Help me keep my feet planted firmly on the path toward the good plan that You designed just for me to walk before time began; and help me let Your light shine through me onto others until my journey is done. In Jesus’ mighty name I pray…amen.