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- Written by: Don Goulding
The Lord God formed out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. Genesis 2:19 (NETFull)
An African farmer introduced me to his three elephants—Mary, Boxy and Shorty. They were characters who snatched the man’s hat away in a game of keep-away.
You can tell an elephant’s personality by how it uses its trunk. They greet each other by intertwining trunks and even have special trunk displays for courtship and mother-child interactions. Some twist around objects to the left, others to the right.
As I reached into Mary’s mouth to lay oranges on her tongue, Boxy and Shorty groped inside my coat with their trunks for more fruit. These were outgoing, curious friends and it was a pleasure to make their acquaintance.
In the Garden of Eden an anointed relationship was inaugurated between animals and humans. We were to co-govern God’s wooly, scaly and feathered creatures. Instead, we brought curses into the world and our relationship with animals went topsy-turvy. They no longer enjoyed our protection but became our sacrificial offerings, or the exact opposite, our gods.
Even today we seem to use animals for sport hunting or worship them under the guise of domesticated pets. The balance conferred on us in Eden disappeared into a gray fog. In my lifetime, one half of the world’s wild animals died due to human destruction of habitat. I don’t want the blood of that crime on my hands. I must rediscover my calling to godly husbandry.
Living in the post crucifixion of Jesus era, I have a chance to right a few wrongs. I can boycott unsustainable harvests, speak against animal cruelty, and use care that I don’t spend more on my pets than I do on God’s kingdom. If I’m truly filled with the Spirit of Christ, he’ll show me a great many ways to reverse this double-edged war against creation.
To Mary, Boxy and Shorty, I want to say, “I’ve been on the wrong side of your suffering. Now let me love and protect you.”
Prayer: Father, help me care for your creation.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms! Close your doors behind you! Hide for a little while, until his angry judgment is over! Isaiah 26:20 (NETFull)
I watched a Nigerian weaverbird gather leaf strands from a palm tree. Over, under, over, under, the yellow marvel knit the strips into his nest. At the bottom of the six inch globe was a small entry. A hundred nests dangled like Christmas tree ornaments and kept birdie families snug against the storms and predators outside.
God tells his people to hide in their rooms from his wrath against the world. This is not an injunction to become a recluse from the lost. It’s a warning to keep our hearts protected for our true love.
Earthly life threatens to consume me, both its lures and its pain. Nature’s beauty, agonizing diseases, technology, relationships, politics, wars, births—there is so much to digest.
Jesus says, “Let me be your nest, your place of safety away from the mayhem swirling around you. Withdraw your heart into friendship with me while I deal with everything on the outside.”
I’m invited into a quiet yet passionate interior life with Jesus. By faith, I must let Jesus weave a hushed sanctuary, 360 degrees around me, against anything this life can dish out, good or bad. Each new event is an occasion to curl up next to Jesus, rest in his peace and grow in the fullness of love.
So much of what is said or goes on around me is never meant to come inside the nest. I must trust Jesus to whisper those few things I need in order to serve him and thrive. All the rest is marked to be destroyed by the wrath of God, so leave it outside.
Prayer: Jesus, hide my heart from the uproar of the world.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
He [God] provides grass for the cattle, and crops for people to cultivate, so they can produce food from the ground, as well as wine that makes people feel so good, and so they can have oil to make their faces shine, as well as food that sustains people’s lives. Psalms 104:14-15 (NETFull)
A balance scale reaches its arms out side to side. My spiritual life sits on the right arm while the left side holds my physical needs.
I often say my only goal is God’s spiritual kingdom but my current assignment is to live in a material world. Without attention to both sides, the scale goes out of level.
Prayer, Bible study and fellowship go onto the right side. On the left, I must add food, rest and godly recreation or the body God gave me will waste away from a lack of stewardship. However, if the left side becomes my primary focus, I’ll plunk down into the animalistic life fit only for hell. I struggle to find the right equilibrium.
To resolve my dilemma, Jesus says, “Move closer.”
His words introduce another dynamic at work on the scale of equilibrium. As I move nearer to him, my hinge point changes which causes the scale to tip down on the physical side. To keep it level, I must lighten my temporal comforts, which is now possible because I’m closer to the Source of life.
Equilibrium is not so complex as I first thought. It’s a joyous life process of daily heeding what is in the pans and inching ever closer to my Lord.
Prayer: Incarnated Jesus, keep my heart in precisely the right equilibrium.