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When I growing up, dogs played a prominent role in the cast of supporting characters of my world.
Let’s see, there was Pooh-pooh, Butch, Twist-It, Jack, Churchill, Skipper and probably some more I’ve forgotten.
You couldn’t exactly say they were purebred. They had lots of interesting ancestors from a lot of different places.
These dogs didn’t exactly belong to people. They just lived a your house. I think they belonged to themselves.
I loved to tease them. Sometimes after the meal, when a biscuit somehow escaped our hungry young mouths, I’d give it to the dogs.
They’d line up before me. I still see it. My hand moved to toss it in the air and they’d jump. Only problem, I still had it in my hand. “Snicker, snicker, snicker.” (The dogs didn’t laugh).
Now they eyed my hand like a bird looks at a stray worm. If I made a small gesture they reacted. They wanted that biscuit. Ah, the good old days. Didn’t take much to entertain me back then, did it?
Looking Straight At It
One thing imprinted itself on my mind, and that’s the way they looked at my hand: expectantly, alertly, waiting, ready to spring. Years later I found something in the Bible that made me think of those dogs:
“Just as the eyes of servants closely watch the hand of their masters,
Just as a maid carefully observes the slightest gesture of her mistress,
In the same way we look to You, Eternal One, waiting for our God to pour out His mercy upon us.”
(Ps. 123:2, The Voice)
Here, I’m like those dogs. Not very noble, I know, but I’m not going to let pride keep me from getting the biscuit.
“Lord, my eyes are glued to your hand. My eyes beg, ‘Me, me, me!’ Lord, give me what I desire. I need it.” And I’m watching hard for the response.
Hang on a minute. Isn’this is an Old Testament prayer?
The Lord doesn’t call us “slaves” or “servants” so much as he calls us “friend.”
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” John 15:13-15, NIV)
« Vous êtes mes amis, si vous faites ce que je vous commande. Je ne vous appelle plus serviteurs, parce qu’un serviteur n’est pas mis au courant des affaires de son maître. Je vous appelle mes amis, parce que je vous ai fait part de tout ce que j’ai appris de mon Père. Ce n’est pas vous qui m’avez choisi. Non, c’est moi qui vous ai choisis; je vous ai donné mission d’aller, de porter du fruit, du fruit qui soit durable. Alors le Père vous accordera tout ce que vous lui demanderez en mon nom. Voici donc ce que je vous commande: aimez-vous les uns les autres. » Jean 15:14-17, Semeur
Servant Or Son?
In this Psalm the singer begs for mercy, turning his eyes toward the Lord. We might 
(And he might reproach us that we forget sometimes that we’re also servants even though we’re children.
He’s the Chief, not us. He tells us the family’s business and we obey Him. We are children but we want to do the will of the Father, even more than a servant wants to obey. It’s the family business we’re talking about here, so we’ve got a stake in it).
Though we know who we are, sometimes we get pretty banged up in life’s battles. We come before God more like beggars than children and friends.
But He still hears us. He’s our Father. Papa!
He drags us to our feet and gives us strength to win. I’m so happy that I don’t always have to measure up to what I should be for God to answer me.
There is always a tension between “what I should be” (and what I am becoming) and where I am now. So often, I’m not up to the challenge but I cry out to the Lord, “Papa!”
He hears and answers me.
He changes my situation or just as often, He gives me the strength to be victorious in the situation. The bad guys won’t have the last word with me.
My eyes are glued to the biscuit.
Hmmm …
Intuition isn’t guessing. It’s sophisticated pattern matching, honed over time. Don’t dismiss intuition merely because it’s difficult to understand. You can get better at it by practicing. seth godin
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