You Can Take the Dog Out of the Country, but You Can’t Take the Country Out of the Dog
Brady, our two-year-old German Shepherd, considers himself the manager of his woodland kingdom and takes his bunny patrol seriously. Fluffy pushes his buttons as he darts through the acreage, teasing him. Brady is convinced it’s his sacred duty to keep the bunny out of his domain. The deer thought they had a peaceful haven, but Brady bolts out of the gate and sprints across the property, chasing Bambi off again. Between Fluffy and Bambi, he is confident in his skills and his ability to control his environment. Brady is relentlessly intense, chasing an orange-and-blue ball down the driveway—an hourly workout. For Brady, the ball is life, and without it, he is useless. You see, Brady lives in a dog’s paradise with hardly any restrictions.
Every year, we travel to Southern California and spend two months on an island called Balboa. The world Brady has made for himself disappears. We have a small fenced front porch where Brady can sit and watch life pass him by. People walk the boardwalks in front of our little house with their dogs, but there are no deer, bunnies, or open driveways to chase his balls. The isolation makes him crazy.
What does every owner of a large dog do to make their lives manageable? We sent him to a professional trainer for his fourth time (in a span of 18 months). You see, even the best trainers can’t train the country out of our dog.
Watching Brady struggle makes me think of human nature—and how hard it is to override what feels natural, even if we think we know better—the patriarchs in the Old Testament. Abraham, Issac, and Jacob were impatient, driven, made bad decisions, and seemed to have no impulse control, just like Brady. God is faithful even when we are impatient and lack impulse control.
Let’s see:
· God made a covenant with Abraham; he’d be the father of many nations.
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people, and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all people on earth will be blessed through you (Genesis 12:1-3).
· God made another covenant with Abraham.
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so, a servant in my household will be my heir.” Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:1-6).
God was clear that Abram would have a son who was his own flesh and blood. But Abram and his wife, Sarai, became impatient after ten years, and Sarai asked Abram to sleep with her Egyptian slave, Hagar, so that Hagar would bear a son. And she did, and she named him Ishmael. Eventually, Sarai became pregnant and gave birth to a son named Isaac. And so, jealousy begins between Sarai and Hagar, jealousy between Ishmael and Issac—deceit with Rebekkah and Esau. And the generational sins keep going. If Abraham and Sarai had waited until God gave them a baby, maybe all these other sinful ploys would not have happened. God remained faithful to Abraham despite his being stupid.
God remains faithful to us even when we are impatient and, like Brady, lack impulse control. A sweet 20-year-old woman walked into a Planned Parenthood Center to have an abortion. Fearful her Christian parents would find out she was pregnant, she secretly made the appointment. Her life carried on as if she had never had an abortion. She was married, gave birth to kids, and scooted along as if she had the perfect life—until she was 40 years old, and then her emotional walls came crashing down. The guilt of the abortion bubbled to the surface, and she experienced an emotional breakdown. Through intense counseling, working through a small group of women who also had abortions, and most importantly, the healing work of Christ and his forgiveness, she was able to forgive herself. God remained faithful to her even though she was impatient and lacked impulse control.
Brady is back managing his woodland kingdom in the country. Fluffy and Bambi encountered the skillfulness of Brady’s protection as he chased them off the property. The German Shepherd catches his breath as he lies on the stoop in the front yard, feeling confident he has everything under control in his country world—until Fluffy and Bambi venture back, then Brady’s lack of impulse control takes over. Like Brady, Abram was impatient and wanted to “help” God fulfill his promise, and lacked impulse control, because he did not encourage Sarai to be patient and wait for God’s timing. How often are we wives impatient with our husbands for not talking to our kids about something very important, and we want them to do it now? Or our kids do something stupid, and we react emotionally and don’t take the time to pray and seek the Lord’s direction on how to handle the situation. I know I can react emotionally when I am unfairly treated, and I do not go into my prayer closet and talk to God first about my betrayal. God wants to be our first responder, and everything is filtered through our relationship with him. Maybe we would have less impulse control and develop more patience.