Today’s mini-sermon is the first of a three-part series inspired by a recent incident that happened to my Sheltie . . .
“However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you . . .” (Deut 28:15)
Sounds kind of harsh, doesn’t it? Maybe a bit tyrannical? In fact, it didn’t become completely clear to me why a loving God would make such a statement until the day my pet Sheltie taught me a lesson . . .
Elsa is a 7 year old Sheltie that we have had since she was 3 days old. Anyone who’s ever had a Sheltie knows how intelligent and loyal they are, and Elsa well-represents her breed in these areas! In fact, she is so loyal and obedient, that I have gotten in the habit of taking her for walks without a leash. For the most part, she is VERY good about staying with me when I tell her to, coming quickly when I call, and staying out of people’s yards. However, lately she’s been having a bit of an obedience problem when it comes to other dogs–especially females! I often saw her struggling with the temptation to run off every time we walked by a home where a female dog lived, but her innate loyalty to me, which is manifested in her obedience, would always win out. Until yesterday, that in, when she ran into another dog’s yard (yes, sigh, a female!), refused to come back when we called, and attacked a dog three times her size. If the other dog hadn’t been generally friendly, things could have gotten pretty ugly, but Elsa did get so tangled up in the other dog’s chain that she tore back a huge section of flesh from her thigh. Of course it was Saturday evening, long after our regular vet’s office was closed, so the only option was to take her into the emergency veterinary hospital, 30 minutes away. One surgery, three hours and 500 dollars later, we finally returned home.
My first impulse? To be angry at my dog! After all, it was HER disobedience that caused all these problems, and now all of us are suffering the consequences! But then God reminded me of the way I used to be, and I realized that I hadn’t been so different from my dog! You see, when I was a kid, I thought that God sure did have a lot of rules! In fact, every fun thing under the sun was an “out” in His book. At times I used to think that God just didn’t want us to have fun, and I proceeded to try to do “fun”–and also forbidden–things every time I thought I could get away with it. Does this sound familiar? Maybe like a page from your own history, or perhaps like a page from the Bible? It reminds me of the Children of Israel. We have records of them complaining about every rule God gave them. They must have thought it all just a bunch of craziness! And God’s response? “If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom . . . if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you . . .” (Deut 28:13-15). Obedience equals blessings; disobedience equals curses. But does this mean that we serve a tyrannical God who only blesses those who obey, and pours out curses upon those who don’t?
Let’s go back to my story about my dog and see! When I made the “rule” that Elsa shouldn’t go to visit other dogs, I did so because I knew that such visits might result in a dog fight. I didn’t make the rule to keep her from having fun; I made it to keep her safe! I knew it was the only way I could protect her from a dog fight. When she willfully disobeyed, she was outside of my ability to protect her. I could no longer keep her safe from a dog fight. I could no longer stop her from getting hurt. And the end result was very traumatic for a little dog.
It is the same with God’s laws. He doesn’t make them to keep us from having fun. He makes them to keep us safe, blessed, and happy! He tells us to live a certain way and to act a certain way because He knows that if we don’t, just like Elsa, we could be headed for trouble. If we wilfully chose to disobey, we choose to throw off the blanket of protection that God has over us to keep us safe from the wiles of the devil. We choose to jump right out of God’s protective power into the dangers of the evil one. We willfully reject God, therefore He is unable to provide us with protection from the enemy. And the end result is usually very traumatic!
Dearest Lord, help us to understand that it was love that put the rules into place. May we stop resenting rules and long for them instead, so that we may bask in the protection You so desire to offer us!
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Moderator, The Nugget, Scriptural Nuggets ( www.scripturalnuggets.org ), Answers2Prayer Ministries, www.Answers2Prayer.org
(To access the entire “Lessons From a Wayward Sheltie” mini-series, please click here.)