Posts Tagged: a parable from my little dog
“Seeking God Rather than God’s Seat”
I learn a lot from my little dog, Laylah. After a meal, especially breakfast, she likes to jump up in the chair I was sitting in and curl up in a ball. However, sometimes she’s a little premature. The other morning, for example, my little dog misgauged my departure from the breakfast table. I left, but only to warm up my coffee. When I came back, she was in my chair. She looked very sheepish, even for a dog, but didn’t offer to get up. After staring at her smiling for a little while, I went around the table to another chair. Immediately, Laylah jumped off my chair and came around the table to sit on my lap.
“I think she is more interested in you than your chair,” my wife observed.
That set me to thinking, as most things do. I thought of a possible analogy to God. Of course, most things set me to thinking, especially about God and our relationship to God.
The same Hebrew word is used for “chair” or “seat” and “throne” in the Old Testament. The context of particular Scripture will help to determine the translation. The word even applies to God’s throne.
Now, I don’t think that my little dog thinks I’m God—just the alpha dog. Still . . .
There are times when I wonder if I want God or God’s seat. To ask the question another way, do I want to sit on the throne and be God? Of course, I would respond with a suitably humble answer. Of course, God is God and God is on the throne!
Buy then there is the way I live. Do I really want God, or do I want to be God? I want to make my own decisions, to be my own man. On the other hand, I do make quite a mess of my life when I play at being God.
Yes, I can learn a lot from my little dog!
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
- “Christian Speech” October 26, 2024“Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Foulkes, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Ephesians, writes the following, which I quote at some length: “29. Now the […]
- “God is in the Details” October 11, 2024“The devil is in the details.” (A general saying, often quoted by lawyers, reporters, and negotiators.) “God is in the details.” (Me, almost certainly not original.) “Luke 12:7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Jesus) God does not micromanage, but God […]
- “Grandma’s Pump” October 8, 2024When I was a little critter, I would stay at my grandma’s house for a night or two sometimes. I liked this for a lot for many reasons. One thing I liked about staying with her was that Grandma’s house was much more technologically advanced than ours was. For one thing, she had indoor water—sort […]
- “Wearing the #14 Wrong-Side-Out” October 5, 2024Pete Rose, #14, is dead. Many of the old guys with whom I play softball watched him play and appreciated him greatly. I do as well. He was one of the greatest players who ever played the game. Yes, he admitted (eventually) to betting on baseball. But many of us still regard him as one […]
- “Passing Along the Love (and a Link)” October 4, 2024Several years ago, a friend of mine put me onto a daily meditation by Richard Rohr and friends. I don’t read them all the time, but I probably should. They are good! I thought that today’s writing was especially good, and I also figured that this would be a good way to post something. I […]
- “Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses” September 19, 2024“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after […]
- “A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands” September 11, 2024A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years. So, while I was running hot water over my […]
- “Waiting and Seeking” September 10, 2024“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD […]
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