Let Us Stand Firm in our Faith

I was walking Chief, my beautiful german shepherd, this morning after he had received minor surgery. Yes, we had his masculinity removed.  I came to the top of a hill and stopped in my tracks.  Just down the hill was another german shepherd who was not a playful canine like my Chief.  She barked a challenge every time I walked past her domain, growling and pacing. Even though she was chained, it was common knowledge that when she wanted off badly enough, the chain could not deter her.  Something like the demoniac in Mark chapter five... 

So I hesitated.  My dog was incapacitated.  I thought of the sons of Jacob who had tricked a whole people group by insisting that the males should all be circumcised just so they could go in and kill them. (see Genesis 34) Not being a doctor or a vet, I am not sure if circumcism is even remotely similar to being neutered, but I have considered the obvious similarities, and I was quite sure my dear Chief would be at risk if I continued down that hill.

As I stood pondering, my old penchant for creative imagination started up, and my playful companion bolted on his leash, dragging me along behind him—right into the lair (wooden dog-house) of the ferocious beast. We were not injured because, as you probably surmised, everything that happened in this paragraph happened only in my mind. I pulled back my run- away imagination and turned back toward home with Chief trotting happily at my side.

That is when this verse occurred to me: If we don’t stand firm in our faith, we will not stand at all.  Isaiah 7:9  If elements outside my control can knock me off my feet, I will be dragged to the lair of an enemy whose sole purpose  is to bite and devour me. (John 10:10)  My only hope is to stand.  I must stand, not in my own strength, but in my faith—that intangible power that is able to move mountains! 

Today, my friends, let us stand firm in our faith no matter what comes our way.  I pray, even as I write, for God to strengthen you so you can stand firm, today, and I trust that you will do the same for me.