Give a Dog a Bone
I have learned many gospel lessons from my tiny toy poodle, George. You might think I’m crazy but it’s true!
It all started when I gave George a bone. He got a brand new bone at Christmas last year and my husband and I keep the bone on a table out of George’s reach because if we didn’t, he would never stop chewing the bone. He is addicted to it.
One day I gave him the bone and he was chewing away and I set the 10 minute “chew timer.” When the timer had gone off, I went to take the bone away from him and he growled, pushed my hand away with his paw, snarled, and even tried to bite me.
This wasn’t a new experience, this happens every time that we try to take his bone away. When this happens, we’re faced with two options: be a good parent and take the bone away even though it’s not what he wants, or we could let him have the bone for as long as he likes.
Although we would love to let him chew on the bone all day long, it’s not good for his digestion or his gums. He has chewed for long enough before that his gums have started bleeding and he’s had an upset stomach from too much bone time. Because of this, we always have to make the hard choice of setting a “chew timer” and taking the bone away from him.
I started thinking about this concept and it struck me that I so often find myself growling and snarling at the Lord. George doesn’t have the mental capacity to understand the consequences of too much bone time, just like I don’t have the mental capacity to understand the consequences of the desires of my heart. Sometimes, I may want something so desperately that I claw my way into getting it. I pray until I’m blue in the face and fight the Lord every step of the way.
Just like George’s gums start to bleed when I let him have the bone for too long, there are spiritual and physical consequences that I can’t fathom or predict when it comes to certain desires. But God knows.
The heart is more deceitful than anything else,
and incurable — who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
and your ways are not my ways.”
This is the Lord’s declaration.
“For as heaven is higher than earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8–9)
God knows what is good for me. He knows just when to take the bone away so that my gums don’t bleed and I don’t upset my stomach. He has the power to give and to take away. If I had it my way, I would be gnawing on the bone all day long and then I would suffer the consequences.
God is so loving that he faces our snarls, clenched fists, and willing disobedience with love and grace, truth, and mercy.
God is good. I’ve had it so starkly etched onto my heart these last few weeks that God is good not because of what he gives to us, but because he is God. He is enough.
George probably loves me and my husband because we give him food, shelter, walks, belly rubs, and treats. Sometimes I find myself falling into the trap of telling God that I’ll love him if he just answers this one prayer. My love for the God of the universe becomes transactional and contingent upon worldly desires. Y’all, that is backward and sinful and wrong.
God is good because God is God. If there is a bone in your life that you just don’t want to let go of, I say let go. In fact, I can say with confidence that we all have bones in our life that we don’t want to let go of. But God is better than the bones. God is better than our dreams. God is better than our marriage. God is better than anything that this world has to offer.
God isn’t taking the bone away because he wants to punish us. He is taking it away because He loves us and He knows what is good for us. God sees our lives as they truly are: eternal and meant to bring Him glory.
Don’t settle for anything less than God himself. A relationship with him is sufficient to sustain your every need, I guarantee it. And his love and his grace and his mercy and his plan for your life are so much better than whatever bone it is that you are desperately holding onto.
“But even if He does not rescue us, we want you as king to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.” Daniel 3:18
This Christmas season, I encourage you to let go. Stop bringing God a laundry list of things that you need. He isn’t Santa. Instead, approach the throne in awe and wonder that the God of the universe sent his Son, Emmanuel God with us, to live a perfect life, die an innocent death, and rise victoriously from the grave. He did all of that for you. Fixing our eyes on Him who can do immeasurably more than we could ever ask, think, or imagine is so much better than a laundry list of wishes and dreams that are probably not all that good for us anyway.
Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us — to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20–21)
So when God asks you to let go of the bone, whatever that may be in your life, let go. He is worthy of all praise. Won’t you lay down your life and your desires, pick up your cross, and follow Him? God is good. God is God. Amen.
