I truly believe that all of creation holds lessons within it, lessons for how we should live, lessons on who God is, and lessons on how we should relate to Him. The Bible is the living word of God, and is given us for our instruction, it is the central method by which we know Him........and yet creation also speaks lessons if we can only have eyes to see.
I have pondered much across the years of my life on the subject of God’s will. What does God want of me? Does he have an exact detailed plan worked out for each and every moment that I must adhere to, or is His will more open? How do I know if I am in the will of God? Does He want me to go here, or there? Take that job, leave that job? As the years pass I become more aware that He simply wants me. He wants me to commune with Him. He wants me to seek Him, to learn of Him, to acknowledge Him, to fellowship with Him. Everything will fall into place if we can only put Him first and seek Him always.
I sat this weekend on my back porch pondering these things. My three dogs shared this time with me. One by laying at my feet soaking up the sunshine, another by digging after ground squirrels and a third just casually patrolling the fence line and gazing out at the mesa.
When I speak, or gaze upon them, their tails begin to thump, and they praise me with their thumping. When I call or hand out some treat, their gazes adoring, they beam their love at me, their trust of me. They praise me with their entire being.
All three dogs were in these moments completely and fully in my will. I had no problems with what they were doing. I simply delighted in sharing their company, and they in sharing mine. Their wagging tails, their happy frolics delighted me. I did not desire for them to sit in just a certain way, or to do any particular task. They were in my will simply by being with me.
I pondered these things……..
At one point Samson became agitated at Hektor and began to bark at him, so I had to rise from my ponderings and gently correct him. He listened to my words and went back to his squirrel hunt, and once again all three were living fully within my will, my benevolence and love. They trust me, they desire to please me, and they bask in my attention.
I pondered these things…..
Just like we often seek to determine God’s will in everyday matters, we also have our preconceived notions of who He is and how He operates.
I have seen dogs work for unworthy masters, the dog executing each and every command flawlessly, but in fear and cringing. How often we put God into this guise, that He is some taskmaster that demands our absolute obedience, that we must cringe at His feet and await His command and we must sharply execute it, and flawlessly, lest he abandon us, or chastise us, or punish us. I have seen folks agonize over which job to choose, or which place to live because they were not sure where God wanted them to be.
On the other hand I have seen the dog who works for the loving master, the dog who executes each and every command as best he can, in all out joy to please his master. The dog delights in the master and the master delights in the dog, they are friends, they are companions, they are bonded and one. Some of the most delightful people are the ones who simply bask in God, they go here, they go there, the going is not the issue, it is how they go. They delight in God and He in them and whether they live here, or there, matters not at all.
This later scenario is how I see God, how my heart sees God.
I think that due to our fears of making mistakes, or of what the future might hold, we often want God to spell everything out exactly, so we can go forth and execute, we want Him to tell us in the morning…” shower and brush your teeth, have some breakfast, go to this exact place and do this exact thing. Tell this person about me, and give 5$ to that person, read this chapter of the Bible, call this person, hug that person………turn that job down, accept this job, move from this place or to that place”....... but what God actually desires is that we arise with our thoughts on Him, that we look outside our windows as the sun comes up, and the beauty of it fills our hearts with awe of His grace. He wants us to talk with Him, to give our days, our hours, our moments into His care, all the while praising Him. In each situation we encounter our first thought, our first action should be love and Christ and giving it all to Him, laying each and everything we do at His feet in an act of worship.
The will of God is for us to be like Jesus, and to do all that we do as unto Him. The dishes….the laundry…..the weeds…..the cooking….
And to make choices in life that honor Him. Do we stay or do we move? Do what seems best for you and your family as long as whatever you do honors Him.
"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
I look out at the big white dog who carries something in his mouth. I speak his name and his tail thumps and he drops it at my feet. A ground squirrel, not exactly what I get excited over, but the look on his face is pure joy as he shares this moment with me. I pet him, tell him he is good and pick up his offering….he is content to give it over to me.
Oh Lord, You teach me so much through my dogs………