So I was spending this evening sitting on the couch feeling sick and watching a baseball game when my doorbell rang. It was my neighbor. Her problem? A stray dog laying on her front porch and blocking her from getting in her front door. At first glance, I didn't think that dog would be alive in 10 minutes. But after calling Animal Control and waiting about 40 minutes for them to show up, the dog was still breathing. In fact, about half way through our wait, she somehow managed to get up and walk around a bit. She was starved, her eyes were oozing, she was wet and sticky all over, and she barely had the strength to stand. "I could see her ribs" is a gross understatement. But she was a sweet dog. My neighbor came and got me because she was concerned the dog might try to attack her, but even if the dog did have the energy to do so, she was much too sweet.
Forsaking my personal hygene, I got close to her and pet her softly. Most of my efforts were in keeping her there for the Animal Control lady who was taking forever to arrive. In that time, I spent most of my time talking to her and just giving her a soft, caring voice. I do not know if she had been abused, but she had certainly been on her own for quite some time. In the short time I was with the dog, I grew fond of her. She was homeless, battered, weak...literally ready to die.
When Animal Control got there, the lady had little trouble getting the dog to come to her and put her in the truck. As she was loading the dog, my mom, my neighbor, and I were commenting on how she needed a bath and some food. The Animal Control officer's response? "They'll put her down probably in the morning."
I was mortified. Honestly, I was angry. The officer explained that she had no collar and was in really rough shape. She would not be given an opportunity to recover and maybe be adopted later on. I did my part in keeping her alive tonight so that she could die tomorrow.
I can't help but think about the near hour I sat by the dog talking to her. Encouraging her to keep breathing and that help was coming. I had no idea that the "help" would give her little hope of surviving.
What if she had been wearing a collar and looked relatively healthy? Would they have still decided to put her down? Or would they have decided that she still had a fighting chance? I would like to think that they would have given her the chance to live had circumstances been different. Though I wish that they would give her the opportunity to recover in her present circumstances as well, but life isn't always what we want it to be...
What about our lives? The dog had no collar and she was starved. Malnourished and lacking identity. Are you and I not the same way sometimes? We can crawl through life as if we're barely hanging on....we look and act starved of God and His Spirit and outsiders can see no dog tags on us. So often we fail to represent Christ and identify with Him. So often we neglect His teachings, His grace, His word, His fellowship. And so often we can be found on the porch barely breathing...starved of the essentials of our life: His provision.
We all have those "wilderness experiences" where we feel like we've strayed from the righteous path. We have all tripped on a bump in the road and have diverted in a different direction. But like the Prodigal Son from Luke 15, we must come to a place where we repent and return to active fellowship with our Father.
That dog had been abandoned, starved, and left hopeless. And her fate hurts my heart. I know if I were in her position, I wouldn't ever want someone to give up on me.
If you feel like that: a stray with little hope of making it through the rest of your life...do not let go. There is everlasting help. There is never-ending grace and love in the arms of a tortured and brutalized King. He has already suffered all there is to suffer on behalf of our sins and has invited to a place of greatest privilege at His side! He lives on still and intercedes for us before God almighty...the Father of creation. If you feel out of hope, out of strength, and done with fighting...surrender to the One who has not given up on you. He has a hope and plan for you. It is His design that you back away from the doors of death and enter into the gates of divine grace. Never quit fighting. You were never meant to be caged by your suffering.
And if you know somebody like that....you do not give up on them either. When the Animal Control Officer told us the dog would be dead by tomorrow, I clenched my fists, clamped my mouth shut, and went inside with a heavy heart. The few minutes I had spent with that dog showed me that she still had a will to live. And they were going to take away that will to live because she was in rough shape and lacked a collar to identify her with someone.
If I ever hear that a friend of mine has given up on someone else because they're in rough shape, and it seems like they don't have a master to identify with, I will personally kick their butt. There is always still hope of recovering. A drug addiction, a porn addiction, an uncontrollable temper, a lack of motivation...whatever it is, there is time to forsake the wilderness and return to the path that person was made and designed to walk. And if you give up them, how can they be expected to not give up on themselves?
I know a lot of people in my life right now that are living really hard lives. They are enduring difficult circumstances that are putting enormous pressure on them. I can even look at my own life and see the footholds that Satan has found that were not there just a year before. Life is a battle, and the fight lasts as long as we still draw breath. Sometimes we stray and find ourselves without a collar that links us to Christ. We discover that our actions are rejections to Christ and His work on the Cross and we must repent of those things and re-connect with Him. We must put the collar back on and be identified with Him once more. And just as often, we may find ourselves starved of His word and feeling lost about what to do, how to act, and where to turn. But we do not have to be starved of Scripture forever. Indeed, God is calling all of us to dig deep inside His word and discover and embrace His truth.
Outside of His calling, we will waste away. We are dead...lifeless in action and purpose until we come awake to His plan for us. Let that be you today. God has not given up on you and me. We may be acting like stray dogs right now, but Christ is not ready to give up on us. Recovery is possible if we choose it.
I challenge myself and my friends to commit to such a recovery. Revival is within us.
