Have you ever gone through a spell in life where you couldn't sleep all through the night? You get up to hit the john, but when you return to bed, instead of drifting back to sleep, your brain starts squirming and won't shut up no matter what you tell it. Well, I've been experiencing this annoying phenomenon a bit too often the past few weeks; and it's happened in the past for months. Now, I have learned to accept these nights or early mornings as promptings from the Lord to stop fighting my thoughts and listen to them. They are His inspirations, usually. Once in awhile these moments are just my enabling self trying to find a solution to a problem that I have no control over and that God hasn't given me responsibility to fix. In those times, I have to get down on my knees or sit out on the porch in the dark and talk to Him.
Sunday morning, Memorial Day Weekend, I was up at 6:30am. I go to worship at Beth Sar Shalom on
Saturdays, so some Sundays, including this one, I try to sleep in until
9:00am with the intent on staying home with no particular plans.
Anyway, I rolled out of bed, grabbed my bible, went out on the porch and
began to continue my studies through Acts and Romans, which also led me
to James. To sum up what I read: the Old Covenant ( the Law of Moses)
was established until fulfilled by Yeshua the Messiah's atoning work
through his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. Yeshua
established the New Covenant: Salvation by grace through faith in His
atoning work. The Old was a covenant of works; the New a Covenant of
grace. However, James says salvation without works is dead; there must
be faith and works. This confuses many and becomes a seed of division in
the Body of Messiah. But it shouldn't, because what God revealed to me
is that the works to which James refers have nothing to do with the Law of
Moses, but of love and compassion driven
works of good deeds in service to others. I did wonder about the
Sabbath, though, and looked up several verses in the Old and New
Testament about the Sabbath. That will be another blog post.
It so happened that my son Jacob was on vacation in Las Vegas, so I was pup sitting his dog Meela. She's a sweet four month old blue pit bull pup. At thirty pounds she's almost as big as my late Border Collie Dollie was full grown. Meela loves to cuddle and thinks she's a lap dog. She loves to crawl all over me, lick and slobber. I love it! I have missed going on walks with Dollie, so having Meela as my walking buddy was nice. Later that Sunday morning, I took Meela for a walk around the lakes.
With Dollie, I seldom had to use a leash. She knew the rules, and if she
began to forget, she was trained to obey my voice commands. I have worked with Meela on establishing boundaries in the yard, away from
the street, using voice commands, but every now and then she will look
at me and test those boundaries.Thus, I have to keep her on a leash. Inexperienced on the leash, full of puppy energy and lacking in street smarts, Meela was tugging at the leash enough to choke herself a couple of times. She wasn't too bad at it, but she definitely needs more training.
This experience with Meela inspired the following analogy of the Law of Moses and the Law of God or Yeshua--the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The Torah (Law of Moses) was a short leash to keep untrained, inexperienced or unruly dogs restrained and at the Master's heel. As the dog responds to his training and becomes more experienced on the leash, he is given a longer lead. As the dog learns to listen to His Master's voice and obey His commands, the dog is released from the leash and given more freedom as long as the pup continues to respond to his Master's voice. The New Testament is the Master's voice--and we hear it when we listen to the Holy Spirit within us.
Some dogs always have trouble with obedience when out for a walk because they are easily distracted by all the noises, smells, and activity in the world around them. They don't keep a trained ear listening for the voice of the Master.
Other dogs learn to obey and love the Master. Their love and devotion keeps them listening and watching ready to do the Master's will. They no longer need the constraints of the leash. They go and explore, run about, but immediately act obediently when the Master calls out His instructions.
Unruly dogs that never bond well with the Master, always have to be restrained by a leash for their own safety. Without a leash, they run into traffic, dig in the garbage, fight with other dogs, sometimes bite people. If they won't stay on the leash, these poor dogs end up at the pound or dead.
Then, there are those obedient dogs who prefer the leash. When the Master gives them freedom, they act confused, hesitant and uncomfortable, until they are once again on the tether. They never experience the joy of running free and pleasing the Master in their freedom.
So like dogs we have a choice, the leash or the freedom to obey His voice without it.
Lori Vidak
5-29-14
this is neat :)
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