Tuesday, December 28, 2010

The Short Leash




"A person whose desire rests on you, you preserve in perfect peace, because he trusts in you. Trust in Adonai forever, because the Lord Himself is the Rock Eternal." Isaiah 26:3-4

Recently, we purchased a new dog. He's a lovely little five month old great pyrenees puppy. His name is Caleb, and he's never had a leash on him before.

When I first met him, his owner carried him from the barn to me. I was sort of curious about this as he was a hefty 50 lb boy. After I clipped a leash on him, I realized why his owner carried him. He sat down, planted his feet, and thrashed his head from side to side while trying to chew the leash.

"This will not do," I thought to myself, and I proceeded to train him to walk with me. Always, I'd give him the opportunity to walk nicely, but as soon as he'd plant himself on the ground, I'd hold the leash a mere 4 inches from his collar and literally drag him. I'd stop every five or six feet to let him catch his breath before we'd try again. As soon as he'd walk nicely, I'd hold the leash normally again and we'd be on our merry way.

Watching Caleb balk at the leash reminded me tremendously to how I viewed a walk with God for my younger years. I was all too ready to receive the blessings of God and all the affection associated with being His beloved daughter without the responsibility of learning how to yield to his way. In my heart and with the decisions I made with how to run my life, I was planting my obstinate butt on the ground and digging in my nails. If I was going to go God's way, He was going to have to MAKE me!

I'm pleased to say that I've learned the beauty in yielding to God's way of doing things. I trust that where He wants to lead me is the best way to go. I know that sometimes I whine and grit my teeth as He pulls me in what I perceive to be the wrong direction, but I'm happy to say that I am not obstinate for obstinacy's sake. The Lord had to shorten my leash for years until I learned that suffocating myself was far worse than giving up my selfish will.

"But you would not go up. Instead, you rebelled against the order of Adonai your God; and in your tents you complained,'It's because Adonai hated us that he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, only to hand us over to the Emori to destroy us. What sort of place is it that we're heading for? Our brothers made our courage fail when they said, "The people are bigger and taller than we are; the cities are great and fortified up to the sky; and finally, we have seen Anakim there."' I answered you, 'Don't be fearful, don't be afraid of them. Adonai your God, who is going ahead of you, will fight on your behalf, just as he accomplished all those things for you in Egypt before your eyes, and likewise in the desert, where you saw how Adonai your God carried you, like a man carries his child, along the entire way you traveled until you arrived at this place. Yet in this matter you don't trust Adonai your God, even though he went ahead of you, seeking out places for you to pitch your tents and showing you which way to go, by fire at night and by a cloud during the day.'" (Deuteronomy 1:26-33)

The Israelites had the benefit of seeing how good and faithful God was, but they still didn't trust Him to lead them. They wanted to plant their furry butts on the ground and thrash at the end of the leash held by a wonderfully loving and forgiving God. This so hurt and infuriated God that He swore that the complaining, distrusting generation wouldn't see the promised land.

Good things are in store for those who yield willingly to the Lord's leading. If God can trust you on a short leash, He will lengthen it until you (in your freedom) will serve Him at the end of a long leash. At the end of this leash, there are many awesome things that God has been waiting to be able to entrust us with.

Luke 16:10 says, "Someone who is trustworthy in a small matter is also trustworthy in large ones."

Now, as our dear friend, the Apostle Paul says, "May God, the source of hope, fill you completely with joy and peace as you continue trusting, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may overflow with hope." (Romans 15:13) Ah, how pleasant it is to hope and trust in our Rock Eternal!

Monday, December 27, 2010

I Was a Wandering Sheep




I was a wandering sheep,
I did not love the fold;
I did not love my Shepherd's voice,
I would not be controlled:

I was a wayward child,
I did not love my home;
I did not love my Father's voice,
I loved afar to roam.

The Shepherd sought His sheep,
The Father sought His child;
He followed me o'er vale and hill,
O'er deserts waste and wild:

He found me nigh to death,
Famished and faint and lone;
He bound me with the bands of love,
He saved the wand'ring one.

Jesus my Shepherd is;
'Twas Hethat loved my soul,
'Twas He that washed me in His blood,
'Twas He that made me whole;

'Twas He that sought the lost,
That found the wand'ring sheep;
'Twas He that bro't me to the fold,
'Tis He that still doth keep.

No more a wand'ring sheep,
I love to be controlled;
I love my tender Shepherd's voice,
I love the peaceful fold:

No more a wayward child,
I seek no more to roam;
I love my heav'nly Father's voice,
I love, I love His name!


~Horatius Bonar (1857)& J. Zundel(1815-1882)

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Feed From Your Own Trough





Ecclesiastes 5:19-20 says, "When God gives any man wealth and possession, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work--this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart."


No matter what I feed my goats-- whether hay or grain-- they suffer daily from a particular folly. Their deeply desired food will fall in plenteousness like manna from the heavens before their eager faces, and they will lower their heads to enjoy. However, after only a few seconds of enjoying their food, they will lift their head, look at their neighbor enjoying their food, and proceed to abandon their share to go after their neighbor's. When they sample a mouthful of their neighbor's food, they realize it tastes about the same as what they were enjoying before, so they attempt to return to their previous feeding spot. However, as they had moved on, their space that was vacant became filled by another hungry goat, so their previous share is no longer available. So the stage is set for a mad shoving match for the tastiest bite in the barn.

Proverbs 23:4-5 says, "Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle."

Nothing we could ever acquire will satisfy us. If our deepest satisfaction is not found in God, then we will constantly find ourselves lifting our head to observe our neighbor's level of delight. God alone holds us all in His hand, and by His will alone will all things come to pass. He provides for our every need; and if our delight is in Him, we will find all that our redeemed heart desires will appear in perfect timing. The portion that is enjoyed by our friends and neighbors is their portion. It was never meant for us. Desiring it will only poison our hearts.

"The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips. Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance." (Psalm 16:4-6)

Enjoy all that was given to you, because it was a gift from a loving Father. It was made just for you and no one else. Desire nothing that hasn't poured directly from the Hand of God, because anything gained in a sinful way will not satisfy you. Be content even with who are as a person, because you are fearfully and wonderfully made and all that you are was deliberately formed by your omniscient Maker.

Why can't I be the sky?
Why can't I be alone
And never desire to fly?
The beauty, the passion,
The tantalizing colors...
Why is the sky
Something that I
Will have to long to be?

Or what is the sea?
Floating, falling,
And deep as can be;
The beauty, the passion,
The vast, tumbling bowl of life...
O, what is the sea?
And what is me?
And why am I not it?

What could be the earth?
Stable and loving;
The foundation of all birth?
The beauty, the passion,
The beginning and the end...
I wonder of the earth--
Full of mourning and such mirth!
Of this I will never know.

Why am I not a star?
Bright and quick
And spirited they are!
The beauty, the passion,
The blink of all eyes...
The arms of a star
Are reaching so far,
Yet I can never reach it's fingers.

I often wonder, 'What am I?'
Am I here for a moment
Just to say goodbye?
The beauty, the passion
Of an ever-fleeting thought...
What is the point of I?
A hello and a goodbye--
There must be something more to be!

Twinkle, twinkle, little star!
And splash, you waves, wherever you are!
Be full of life, you hardy planet!
And bloom, O tree, wherever you're planted.



And smile, beloved creature, for there is nothing more aside from Christ that our heart could ever desire! It is finished, and He is enough....He is my portion forever!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Thy Name





"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." (Deuteronomy 6:4)

The Oxford American College Dictionary defines the word 'name' as meaning "a word or set of words by which a person, animal, place, or thing is called."

The name of the slaughterhouse I take my animals to is Mahan's Packing. Recently, I called ahead of time to let them know I was bringing in a cow and four goats after hours, so would they please leave out tags for me to tag my animals for the morning kill? I left them my name and spelled it twice to make sure they would get it right.

The next evening, I showed up with my trailer loaded with livestock and found my envelope with tags left out for me. However, they misspelled my name grossly. My name is spelled Adrienne Michelson, but these name tags were made out to an Adren Mickelson. Although horribly misspelled, I knew these tags were meant for me. I suppose I could have acted huffily and thrown the tags into the snow in righteous indignation over the heinous disrespect to my name, but that'd hardly be good of me. That'd be awfully arrogant, immature and destructive to myself. Without those tags, my animals wouldn't be properly marked, so I'd lose them in the slaughterhouse and never see their meat. For the most part, I'd like to think I wouldn't shoot myself in the foot so badly for the sake of pride.

Some people seem to think that God only answers to one name. I've heard debate after debate on the true name of God, and I'm thoroughly unimpressed. I've been rebuked for saying the word "God" in reference to Him because it's too generic. I've been rebuked for saying "Lord" because it was also used to refer to Beelzebub. I've been rebuked for saying "Jehovah" because it literally means "god of destruction". I've been rebuked for saying "Jesus" because that is not likely what his name was. Purists will tell you that God must be called either Yahweh or Elohim and that Jesus must be called Yeshua. They are convinced that any other name is a disrespect to Him.

I beg to differ! Even if we completely mess up what God's name really is, He knows who we're talking to; even as I knew that those tags which bore a butchered version of my name were meant for me. A wicked man may call his wicked wife "honey", and my good husband may call me by the same name; the name is not defiled because a wicked man referred to his wicked wife by it. I am still my good husband's "honey"! By the very character of God, He cannot be so arrogant as to turn a deaf ear to someone who is earnestly seeking Him. Also, He is not so ignorant as to not understand when someone is calling out a name that is not in Hebrew.

You will know who the God of Adrienne is by what she does and does not do. I follow the same God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-- the God of Israel-- of King David, of Paul, and of Jesus himself who was One with Him. If what I do bears witness as truth in your heart, then we are of one accord and our God (who is called by many names, because He is I AM) is One and the same!

"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are One." (John 10:27-30)

My dear friends, I do not have the time to recount all of the names of God listed in Scripture. Though all of these names, the Lord our God is One!