This is the first in an occasional series
of blog postings that I have called: “Dogged Devotion”:
I have a new puppy - a large breed, highly
active dog. At time of writing he is a thirteen-week-old energy package wrapped
in puppy exuberance. If he is awake, he is on the move! I am keeping one eye on
him as I write this, because he has just woken from a nap and is even now about
to trigger into action. This could well translate into two clumsy puppy paws
suddenly landing on my laptop keyboard, producing a string of indecipherable messages
and alerts never before encountered in the computing world!
Jabulani (a Zulu word meaning “rejoice”) not only enhances my life with fun and affection, however. Raising and
training him is opening my understanding to spiritual truths in freshly
applicable ways!
As is the case with toddlers, there are
times when Jabulani seems to become increasingly frenzied in his activity, getting
into more and more mischief, and becoming less and less responsive to commands.
I have learned that he does this when he is over-tired, but unable to calm
himself down. He needs a little help from me, so this is what I do:
I face him away from me, and make him sit.
Then I straddle him, sitting on my knees over him. In this position, I pull his
front paws out gently, until he is lying down, and I squat over him, just enough
that he can feel my body against his back. In this way any movement from him is
contained. With the puppy under me, I then stroke him firmly, from his head to
his shoulders, over and over. While I am doing this, I speak soothingly to him,
telling him what a good boy he is.
Within one minute I can feel his tense
muscles relax under me, and his heartbeat slow. Finally he gives a deep sigh,
then a yawn. Once he yawns, I know that he has calmed down, and I slowly
release him. Almost inevitably, he goes straight to his bed, and falls asleep!
Two things have happened here:
·
By placing him physically underneath me,
I have established dominance over him.
·
Under my gentle, consistent authority,
his tension is soothed, and he becomes quiet.
In my previous blog, I expounded a little
on Psalm 37. As explained, it provides us with a four positive commands and one
negative, each of which comes with a promise:
Trust
in the Lord…
Delight
in the Lord…
Commit
your way to the Lord…
Be
still and wait for the Lord…
Do
not fret and agitate…
Verse 7 arrested my attention: “Be still
before the Lord and wait patiently for Him…” As I pondered how difficult it is
for us to “be still and wait”, it struck me that every one of these commands
emphasizes our position of submission and surrender under the Lordship – the authority
- of Jesus Christ:
Our
trust is in His authority
We
delight in Him as sovereign over our lives
We
commit our way to His kingly dominion
and then…
In
this position of surrender to His Lordship, we are able to be at rest
trustingly in Him, confident that He is at work.
Just the way my puppy becomes calm and
relaxed under my authority! I do not hurt him when I straddle and quiet him
under me. My dominion over him is loving and gentle, and for his benefit.
In the same way, the Lordship of Jesus
Christ over our lives is not punishing – it is loving and gentle, and always
has our good at heart!
When we have a frantic need to be in
control, it results in increasingly frenzied thoughts, and mental and emotional
torment that often leads to ill-advised decisions and actions. We are limited
in our ability to calm ourselves down. We need help from One who has greater
wisdom, power and authority. As we submit and surrender ourselves to His
Lordship, relinquishing control to Him, in our position under His authority,
tension is soothed, and quiet seeps into the deepest recesses of our beings.
Zephaniah 3:17 says, “The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great
delight in you, He will quiet you with
His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”
His Lordship over our lives is a loving
lordship, always working for His highest good in our lives. The place of
surrender is a place of peace and rest and refuge and relief!
This is true at any time, but most
especially when we are going through difficult and harrowing times. The book of
Hosea presents a picture of a woman who has ended up in a place of personal
wilderness, as a result of rebellion against the Lordship of Jesus Christ. But
in the wilderness, God comes to her in His power and sovereignty, not dealing
harshly with her, but instead saying: “Therefore
I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak
tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the
Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth…”
(Hosea 2:14, 15).
“Achor” means “trouble”. Are you in a
barren and desolate place of trouble, frantically trying to “make something
happen” in an effort to “fix” yourself or “fix” someone else, or “fix” your
circumstances?
Can you just stop? Stop and consciously
place all that you are, and all that your circumstances entail, under the
sovereign, tender authority of Jesus Christ. In that place of quiet surrender, He
will:
Give
you His peace and rest
Make
His voice heard, speaking tenderly to you
Give
you back the fruitfulness of your life
Transform
trouble into hope
Give
you a new song
Restore
what has been lost to you
My puppy’s name, Jabulani, means “rejoice”.
The Bible tells us that when we surrender ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus
Christ, the help that we find there is so profound, that we are able to “sing in the shadow of Your wings” (Ps,
63:7).
Be at rest under His sovereignty – and reclaim
your peace and joy!
Jabulani!
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