O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself;
It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.
Jeremiah 10:23 NKJV
You can take the dog out of the city, but you can’t take the city out of the dog. My little darling is definitely a diva, born in New York and raised in Massachusetts.
She’s super clean, despising dirt. If there is poo in the yard, she points it out to us like she is disgusted that it remained in her yard.
Last week we walked downtown. I slowed down as we approached an area always covered with dirt for fear of slipping. Iva came to a complete stop.
“Iva, forward.” She refused to budge. I knelt beside her.
“What is it, girl?” I reached out in front of me, wondering if I would find an obstacle. Laughter arose as I discovered the problem. The rain from the night before had packed down the usually loose dirt. It wasn’t quite mud, but Iva did not want to walk through it, and she didn’t think I should either.
“You are such a diva!” She gave my face a lick as if to say, “so what if I am?”
I assured Iva it was perfectly fine to proceed, and we continued our walk.
I began thinking about how God warns us about the dirt in our paths. Do I heed His warnings? Do I pause to investigate, or do I busily move forward? Do we consider the dirt, the sin, we track through? The sociably acceptable sins such as gossip, attitudes, unforgiveness, and neglecting our tithes?
Then there are the not-so-sociably accepted sins we think we can hide: pornography, addictions, and dishonesty. If we hadn’t ignored God’s warning. If we hadn’t traveled so far down that path of destruction, we wouldn’t be in so deep. The longer we disregard God’s instruction, our consciences become seared.
speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, (1 Timothy 4:2 NKJV)
The Holy Spirit’s job is to guide us. He shouts, “Don’t go there. That’s too tempting. This isn’t right.” We often throw in some ear plugs and continue in our own direction. How can we repair our situation? 1 John 1:9 (NKJV) says:
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
Unrighteousness.
Next comes the hard work of changing our faulty patterns. Listen for the voice of God. Heed His warnings, and forbid ourselves to walk down those same roads of sinful behavior again.
We don’t have to be a diva like Iva to keep our feet clean. Our love for Jesus should stir up a desire for obedience, grateful when He points out an obstacle. Even something so myopic that we don’t recognize it. Those unrecognizable obstacles have led us astray, but the road of repentance is always faster than the road to disaster.
*** Travel back to the days at guide dog school with me and Iva. The first book in the Guide Dog Tales series will be released on October 10, 2020. “Faith, Freedom & Four Paws: Seeing God Through Iva.”
Originally posted on April 13, 2020 @ 3:08 am