A few years back I had an exercise regimen that consisted of walking four miles as fast as my short legs could take me, four to five days a week. One day to change things up I decided to walk through a neighborhood I’d never walked in. About a quarter of a mile into the subdivision my worst fear was realized. Accompanied by a bark and growl that let me know his intention was not to offer me a bottle of water, a medium sized dog (we’ll call him Brutus) came charging at me across his yard. I braced for the worst because the last thing I wanted was for Brutus to do a taste test on one of my calves.
When he got close enough, I glared at him, stomped my feet, clapped my hands, pointed my finger and yelled, “Stop! Get away from me!” He stopped charging but continued to bark and growl ferociously. In a couple of minutes when he calmed down some, I backed away keeping my face toward him. But as soon as I turned my back, he charged and bit me on my left calf. By this time his owner realized his dog was in the middle of some kind of ruckus and started running across his yard, all the while pleading with Brutus to calm down and leave me alone. Once his owner corralled him, finally Brutus settled down enough for me and his owner to have a chat. He asked me the all-important question for such a moment as this: “Did he bite you?” When I nodded in the affirmative, he declared, “But my dog doesn’t bite.” Obviously he didn’t know Brutus was living a double life. He was mortified when I showed him the bite mark and the blood that was slowly moving down my calf. He apologized profusely. Assuring him that I would be okay (meaning I wasn’t going to sue), I made my way back to my now not-so-boring route.
As I finished my walk, I began to ponder what had happened. This made the fourth dog to bite me in my adult years. I’d responded to each dog basically in the same way. Each dog had used the same modus operandi – waiting until I turned away from them and then biting me on the lower leg from behind. Obviously my strategy was not working, but theirs was. Then I remembered that in our church there was a woman who was an excellent dog trainer – a kind of dog whisperer. The next time I was with her I told her what had happened with Brutus. When I asked her how I should have responded, she said, “When a dog charges you like that he is scared and his intention is to protect himself by scaring you away. Next time, first thing to do is don’t look the dog eye to eye because that threatens and challenges him. Instead, turn your head to the side away from him, drop to one knee, let your arm closest to him dangle down by your side, remain still, and say nothing. Eventually he will settle down, come up to you and sniff around, and once he determines you’re no threat, he will move on and you can go on your way. My response to her wisdom was a simple, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Talk about needing faith!
It would be several years before I would know whether or not I really believed Linda’s counsel. Early one morning just before sunrise while I was walking in our neighborhood, out of the darkness JoJo, the attack Chihuahua living two doors down, came racing towards me with full bark and growl and teeth bared. Recalling Linda’s counsel, I turned my head away from him, knelt on my left knee, and dangled my right arm so he could sniff it if he chose. JoJo continued to yap and growl, but chose not to sniff my hand. Finally out of apparent boredom, he retreated back into the darkness.
As I have pondered these events over the years, I have found three important life lessons in them regarding faith:
- To be willing to do what Linda had instructed would require from me strong faith and trust in her as a person—trusting in her character, her knowledge and wisdom regarding dogs, her abilities as a trainer, and in her love and care for me. Should we be surprised then that that is also what is required for us to truly believe in God? We must believe in His character—His holiness, goodness, grace, mercy, power, abilities, and especially His love for us. We must believe that He has our best interest at heart and has the ability to back up what He says and deliver the good that He promises.
- To be willing to do what Linda had instructed would require of me strong faith in the rightness of the information she shared, of the directives she gave, and of the promised outcomes she made—even though I had no evidence to support that belief. Likewise, to be willing to live life as God instructs, calls on us to put strong faith and trust in the rightness of the information He shares with us through His word and His Spirit, in the commands we find in His Word, and in the promised outcomes that He makes. To follow His counsel, we must first believe in Him; then we must believe His message.
- Only by doing as Linda instructed could I possibly prove and demonstrate to her, others, and especially to me that I really had faith in her and in her counsel. In the same way, only through obedience to God’s Word can we prove we truly believe in Him and have faith in His counsel. Until we obey, it’s all just talk.
In closing, let’s allow the truth of God’s Word found in Hebrews chapter 11 to encourage us regarding our faith: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen…And without faith it is impossible to please Him [God], for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:1,6, NASB).
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