40 Days to Lasting Change Day 3
A Tale of Two Fathers
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing. Psalm 68:5–6
A few years ago I came home from work to find that my wife and kids had agreed to dog-sit for some friends. The dog’s name was Pork Chop. Everyone was excited about our new houseguest, but when I walked into the room, Pork Chop was not glad to see me. He responded to my presence by peeing on the floor and running into the next room. I tried not to take it too personally, but every time I walked in, I got the same response from Pork Chop. We later found out that Pork Chop’s owners had rescued him from an abusive situation where he’d learned to be afraid of men. He had no reason to fear me—I had taken this dog into my home and provided food and shelter for him—but because he had learned to be afraid of men, he would always run away. I could never get close to him. That’s how some people relate to God.* They run away to the Distant Country and never give Him a chance because they’ve been conditioned to be afraid of Him. (Idleman, Kyle. 40 Days to Lasting Change: An AHA Challenge (pp. 31-32). David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.)
Today I’m reminded of how important is to know God personally. Too often we get our perspective of God from what others have said about Him or from our experiences with people rather than with Jesus. It’s so easy to take the idea of God and form it to fit into our little heads and hearts when God is so much bigger than we can imagine. I’m asking God to “Open my eyes” to see Him for who He really is so that I can live in His great big love on His great big ranch in His great big house. I find that big picture of God from reading & relying on His word for my world. Who wants to live is a wrong picture of God?
From the Kitchen Table 