What's the Scoop?

Yesterday we heard Pr. Kyle Rouze preach about how Jesus loves to gather us close to his heart, even when we have not followed his commands. I enjoyed the example he gave of such "gathering in" with his and his wife's two little pugs. It was easy to imagine him scooping them up and holding them close, even when they had not been on their best behavior. Although I wonder, in their case, who's pleading looks garnered more sympathy, his or the pugs'?

It is comforting to know that Jesus will do, has done, the pleading for us and our case. He scoops us up and stands in the gap with the Father. Having already paid our ransom, he pleads not guilty by way of absolution on our behalf. There is no advocate like him, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Listening to Pr. Kyle's sermon and the story about his dogs, I began to think about our dogs. Most definitely not the "scooping up in your lap" kind, Fred weighs in at around 75 lbs and Barney is 60 or so. But I remembered a particular afternoon when we had them out for a walk. (And in our case, it's a toss-up as to who is walking whom.) Heading home, we were a couple of blocks from our house when we heard frantic barking (the big dog kind) from the backyard of the house we were passing. All of a sudden two pit bulls came boiling out from under a rickety fence, one of them trailing a piece of rope. At first they encountered a partial chain link fence between us and them, but it only took a moment for them to realize they could go around it. As they circled the fence, I instinctively grabbed Fred to keep him from lunging away from me, reaching down and scooping up as much of him as I could. This amounted to getting his front feet and chest up in my arms so he was standing on his hind legs. Much to my relief, even though he was still tensed for action, he didn't struggle too much. Meanwhile Jerry leashed Barney in close and yelled and swung his arms at the two pits. Lucky for us they were still young enough to be intimidated and they quickly retreated back under the fence. We also beat a hasty retreat, rounding the corner to the next block before stopping to calm ourselves and the boys. It was a really scary confrontation, and as suddenly as it happened, it was over.

The thing I recalled about the experience was knowing I had to hold onto Fred, not necessarily to protect him from being attacked, but to keep him from attacking. And that's what was going through my mind as Pr. Kyle was talking about God scooping us in even if we have not been obedient.

I think God scoops me in sometimes to protect me from myself. I get an idea in my head that I need to do something and I'm sure it's the right thing. I put all my focus and energy toward a goal, and I may even pray about it. But even though I may ask God to guide me, it's often with the assumption that he will guide me toward my goal. I can look back though, and see many times when he guided me away from it. He scooped me up, stopping my reckless forward motion until the threat had passed. Sometimes I resented being held back and struggled to have my own way. Many times too, I did not pray for guidance and ran headlong into disaster. But as I mature, so does my sense of humility, gratitude, appreciation and respect for God's involvement in every facet of my life. So I pray. I pray for his Spirit to guide me. I pray for wisdom and discernment. I pray for self-control. I pray for God's will, not my own. I pray to be scooped up in his arms, where I can abide in him and he in me.

Thank you Lord, for scooping me up, for leading me not into temptation but delivering me from evil, for pulling me in, holding me close, calming my fears, and redirecting my life. May all my actions, intentions and works of this day be directed solely to the greater glory of God's divine majesty, and may the grace of God dwell always in me. Amen.