We recently adopted a 2 year old Maltese mix from
the Atlanta Humane Society – a rescue dog from a very bad situation. Watching his responses, particularly to my
husband, David, has been very educational about our attitudes toward God, and
about how we create our own consequences by our choices based in fear.
For example, rather than allow David to take him out
for his walk, he would cower in his kennel and wait for me to get home, causing
him both physical and emotional discomfort.
This behavior was not based on anything he had experienced from David,
but was instead based on past experiences with a male or males who were unkind
to him. He transferred his fear based on
those past experiences onto David, whom he assumes will treat him the same
way. He hadn’t tried to get to know
David, nor has he tested out his assumption.
He was reacting totally based on his own fear and his false belief about
David.
This reminds me of how, not knowing God and not
knowing what to expect from Him, we will self-protect and try to “hide”
ourselves out of fear. Jesus stands
there offering us love, comfort, and provision, and we run and hide in our
version of our “kennel” or “safety” zone, thinking we are our own provider, and
our own protector. When we do this, we
cheat ourselves, just as the little dog was doing, out of what Jesus has for us
– His love, His presence. We cause
ourselves our own discomfort, struggle and pain as we choose this, all the
while thinking we are keeping ourselves safe somehow. It is very self-defeating, exactly like what
I witnessed the dog doing to himself.
Another striking example occurred when David was
making himself lunch, and accidently dropped a piece of turkey on the kitchen
floor. The puppy dog could smell the
turkey, but it was too near to where David was standing for him to be willing
to “risk” going to get it. So as a
result he denied himself a special treat.
Seeing what was happening, David even moved away from the piece of
turkey, hoping the dog would come and get it if he was not in the way. Even then, the dog was too afraid; simply the
fact that David HAD been there was enough to keep him from going after that
delicious piece of turkey – something he would have loved to have, and
something he normally would not receive (we don’t feed our dogs table
scraps). His fear and his belief denied
him that special moment.
This too seemed very similar to how we cheat
ourselves out of God’s good gifts by staying away from Him. He offers to be a wonderful comfort for
us. He “drops” gifts of love and
kindness and caring and support for us all the time – but we keep our distance
and rob those special moments from ourselves.
We have nothing to lose, but we won’t “risk” getting close enough to
Jesus to find out that He has only good for us.
David’s actions toward the dog reminded me of God’s
response to us as well. David discovered
that the puppy dog really likes bacon treats, so he started carrying around
bits of bacon, hoping the dog would get comfortable with him and eventually not
be afraid of him. Knowing the dog was
too scared to receive the gift, David patiently dropped the pieces of bacon on
the floor by the dog’s kennel. David has
done this now for several weeks, and some minor progress has been made as now
the puppy will take the treat from David’s hand at times. But I watched with some amazement as, even
after several weeks and the dog having experienced the yumminess of the bacon
many times, David, while standing in the kitchen, tried to give the dog his
special treat, but as long as David was standing up, the puppy would not take
the treat from him. If David sat down,
then and only then would the dog receive the special gift.
This part of my observation reminds me of how
patient God is with us, and how willing He is to meet us where we are. Just like David, He goes out of His way to
bring His love to our very door. He
never forces Himself on us, but is always willing to give freely to us, even as
we run and hide from Him. It also reminds
me so much of all of us and how we respond to God. Jesus stands with arms open wide, offering
Himself, His love, His comfort, and His good gifts to us. But we refuse those
gifts based on our fear, denying ourselves what He is offering freely and
lovingly, or we establish conditions for God to meet under which we will consider giving Him a chance. As a result, we never learn
that He is not Who we imagine Him to be – we remain stuck in our fear and our
own imagining of Who He is based on our experiences. And the sad thing is, those experiences come
not from God, but from evil and sin in this world, which we then transfer onto
God as if it belongs to Him. Some
people, even after tasting the goodness of God in some way, still hold onto
their fear and deny themselves the wonderful peace and love of His presence.
From the dog’s point of view, I guess the
self-protective response makes some sort of sense – but from the broader view -
from our more truth-based point of view - the dog’s behavior is sad, and we
feel the loss that he is bringing upon himself, simply by his own
choosing. We feel the longing to give
him the love he so desperately needs, the one thing that would heal him and his
hurts. We hurt for him as we see him
cower and flee, knowing what he is denying himself by choosing to believe his
own fear. In not knowing who we are or
how we will be with him, he loses – there is no gain at all – and we can see
that, and hurt for his loss.
What are you choosing in your relationship with God? Which viewpoint will you take as your own?
The dog’s or the owner’s?
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