Thursday, January 14, 2016

People and Pigs


 

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” – Psalms 91:1

If humans were to be related to any animal, I think it would be pigs.  Now hear me out!  Let me make my case!

When I was growing up my dad had pigs – at least for a short while.  We would feed them all our scraps, and they would eat anything we gave them.  They weren’t picky eaters at all!  If it was in front of them – they devoured it.
They were also afraid of anything they hadn’t seen before.  Whether it was one of my granddad’s horses, or a dog or even a squirrel, they’d start squealing as if they were being massacred!

They were also lazy.  Yes, lazy!  Most of the day they just laid and slept.  They weren’t picky about their surroundings either!  They’d just as soon lay in mud as a nice bed of hay.
During the time they were there, my dad often had to chase pigs.  Every time they could, they would dig out of the pen.  How such an ugly snout can be used to dig is beyond me!  I’d think they’d get dirt in their noses and never be able to breathe through it.  But through sheer determination to roam, they would dig out and be gone!  Finally my dad put rings in their noses.  I remember that day! Talk about squealing!  He had this device that would pierce their noses and put this metal ring in.  With the ring in their noses, they couldn’t dig out without experiencing pain.  But oddly enough, some would still do it.

Do you see the likeness of humans?  I do.
Many are content to eat from the pew, or the Facebook page, or the YouTube channel, or any other source without even considering what they’re taking in.  Without studying God’s word for yourself, you don’t know if you’re hearing the truth or someone’s interpretation of the truth.  But nom, nom, nom! Gobble it up!  It may end up being the unhealthiest thing for you if it was a lie, but it sure tasted good to believe this lie.  I’ll just call it out.  Prosperity preaching, feel good preaching, man-made freedom preaching (sin without consequences), and worship that’s more about the music than our Maker, and I’ll just stop there due to lack of pen and paper to make a full list!  The fact is you are to be a DISCERNER of the truth.  And without God’s word, you cannot do that.

Fear is the driving force in what we will and will not do.  We don’t speak of our relationship with God, or lack of relationship with God because we fear public opinion.  It may not be acceptable conversation in all circles, unless you consider God present, and He is – always.  Yet we fear what other think more than we fear what God thinks.
We fear the future.  We fear our health issues. We fear the failure of our finances.  We fear the failure of our marriages.  We fear the future of our children.  We fear EVERYTHING that we do not trust God to handle.  Our ability to trust God stems from how well we know Him.  If you don’t take time to get to know Him, you will not be able to trust him with your worries any more than you can trust a stranger. 

And yes, we are LAZY!  “I don’t have time to read my Bible”, or “I don’t have time to go to church” (inflicting self-pain), “I don’t have time to visit them” are popular in our vocabulary, along with the excuses that we push.  But we make time to binge watch TV, time to scroll Facebook for hours, time to repost garbage that isn’t true (sorry - not sorry), time to do anything you really want to do.  The fact is – we’re lazy! We find time to do the things we want to do, but are just too lazy to give God any of that time.  We all get 24 hours in a day, but we all spend WAY more of that than we should on ourselves and our own desires.  Take note.  God gives you ever minute of the day, and HE expects you to be grateful enough to spend some with Him, and rewards you when you do with His presence. 
And then we wander.  We get full of the words of false teaching, we get fearful of everything in our lives, and we become self-fulfilled and too lazy to get to know our God.  We become like pigs, digging under the fenced in life God has offered us when we abide in Him, and chasing after everything.  We fill our lives with this and that hobby, this person and that relationship, this job and that income dream, and we chase and chase after everything that’s shiny thinking it’s going to bring us happiness.

One thing I know about those pigs.  They were safer inside the pen than outside.  Outside the pen were coyotes, dogs, and all sorts of things to hurt them.  My dad finally got tired of chasing after those pigs and they ended up on the dinner table. 
Continually through God’s word we read of the blessings of abiding in Him.  Abiding is staying, being connected, continual relationship building.  Abiding is living daily with Him.  Perhaps the most beautiful of all these blessings, at least to this gal, is found in Psalms 91.  The chapter is thought to be a conversation with King David, his son Solomon, and God.  It goes like this:

David: 
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Solomon:
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”

David: 
Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler,
And from the perilous pestilence.
He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
Only with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked.

Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.


God:
“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.”


God’s blessings to those that ABIDE in Him are endless.  They are far greater than anything we can give ourselves or the temporary happiness that can be found in anything else.  It’s much like being a puzzle piece, and finally finding where you fit.  Once you abide there, the other “shiny things” just don’t appeal to you.  Abiding in Him is contentment, deliverance, companionship with God, favor, and joy. 

Solomon was the wisest man to ever live.  Take advice from Solomon, who said “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”

 

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