NIKKI THE STUBBORN DOG - and a lesson she taught me.

 

      She was thin as a rail and as pitiful as could be.  She was a blue-tick hound that nobody wanted.  A guy that worked with my husband found her wandering in the mountains.  He guesstimated her to be about a year old.  When my husband saw the picture of her it broke his compassionate heart and he immediately responded by claiming her as our family dog and naming her Nikki.

   We got her home and her shortcomings became immediately apparent.  Because she’d gone without regular feedings she was voracious at her food bowl.  She jammed her face into the food and tossed it back into her throat with violent thrusts of her head.  She didn’t even bother chewing.  Her dog bowl was empty in a matter of seconds.  This behavior never altered for the 15 plus years we had her.

     She was every bit the hound-dog hunter, even in our back yard in the city.  She would lie patiently on the lawn as still as could be and waited for birds to land.  She silently watched as the birds pulled worms or seeds out of the grass and when they got close enough, she pounced.  More often than not, she got her bird and proudly hauled it into the house through her doggie-door.  Her hunting instincts were amazing.

     When we went camping, if she got off a leash or rope, she trailed off into the woods with her nose to the ground tracking whatever creature had left the scent.  I can’t even remember all the small critters she stalked and killed.

     Now you can’t really blame a dog for manifesting the very behaviors they were bred to perform, so all of this, while somewhat irritating, was not the main problem we had with Nikki.

     No, the biggest defect with this dog was her detachment from us.  We think that because she hadn’t really experienced human contact for the first year of her life, she really had no use for us.  She would do whatever tricks we trained her to do in order to get her precious food but other than that rarely came to sit by us or even acknowledge us until the last 5 years of her life.

     It’s wasn’t really a problem for us to have a dog that didn’t absolutely “adore” us.  The problem came that whenever we called her to come or when we gave her an order.  She didn’t even acknowledge any commands.  “Come,” “Sit,” “Roll-Over,” “Down.”  I swear if that dog could speak she would have been telling us to go fly a kite.

     One day we thought it would be fun to drive out to the desert and let her run free for a while to get some exercise.  We got out to the open wilderness, opened up the back of the truck and off she went.  We laughed at her ears flopping behind her and tail wagging as she went crazy with the freedom there.  Then her nose caught a scent and off she went tracking something with steely determination.  What focus!  What single-minded attention in following her own nose.  We marveled at how the happy dog became all business so instantly. 

     And then we noticed something else.  She was wandering - very far from us.  My husband called her, “Nikki.”  No response.  Maybe she couldn’t hear.  He whistled loudly and called her.  “Nikki!”  Nothing.  Now we could only see the tail over the top of the brush.  “Nikki Come!!”  He whistled and clapped his hands a few times.  We were both yelling, clapping, whistling and she was just getting smaller and smaller on the horizon.  He hollered to me, “Get in the truck!  We’ve gotta go get her!  Dumb Dog!!”

     I hopped in and off we went bumping and honking across the desert, tracking this stupid dog who was tracking some stupid animal.

   Anyway, we managed to track her down and get her into the truck but decided she couldn’t be trusted with freedom and needed to be on leash if we went out on adventures ever again.

     Because Nikki had never properly bonded to us, she felt no urgency to listen to our voices.   She had no sense of loyalty or appreciation for the ones who gave her a nice life.  In fact she really could have cared less what we were saying unless it was, “Time to feed the dog.”  Then she was right there to do our bidding.  Her hearing was just fine.  It was her LISTENING that was the problem.

 

     I have a listening problem and probably you do too.  It’s not that I can’t hear what God wants me to do, I just don’t listen to Him sometimes.  It’s that I hear it and keep doing what I want to do.  I hear Him say, “Give so-and-so a call to see how she’s doing.”  And I tell myself, “Let me just  finish what I’m doing and if I remember...”  And I never seem to have time later.   I may be having a conversation with my husband and I hear the Spirit say, “Finish listening and don’t speak words that will discourage him.” And then I say whatever I darn-well please, injuring my husband and our marriage.  I get a call from a believer asking me if I can help out with such and such at church.  Then I hear the Lord say, “Focus in on the few things I want you to do well.”  So I say to my friend who’s calling, “Sure I’ll do it since there’s nobody else to do it.”  And then I neglect the things I KNOW the Lord wants me to do.

     If I stay busy enough, I don’t have to listen when the Spirit speaks.  I can do what I want, when I want.  I’ll be so busy “serving” that people will think I’m awesome.  But I will have NO peace because I’m quenching and grieving the Spirit at every turn in my day-to-day life.  I become like Nikki.  I’ll do the tricks that are necessary to get what I want from God but I can continue along, defiant to God’s voice.  And you know the longer you refuse to listen, the farther you get from His voice; just like Nikki in the desert.  If you get far enough away, you don’t have to hear it anymore.

 

     So what’s the solution? 

 

1.     Be bonded to your Father in Heaven.  James 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

2.     Listen when the Holy Spirit prompts you.  Jesus said in John 16:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

3.     Don’t quench the Spirit by refusing His direction in your daily life.  1 Thes. 5:19 Do not quench the Holy Spirit.

4.     Abide in Christ’s love.   John 15 says Abide in Me, and I in you.  And further down in the passage He explains, If you keep My commandments you will abide in My love…

5.     When you blow it (and you will) acknowledge and confess it to God and anyone you’ve sinned against.  Without confession, you will NEVER grow in hearing God’s direction in your life.  Psalms 51

  Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.
Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,
And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
¹³ Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will be converted to You.

6.     Moment by moment set your mind on things above.  Col. 3:1-3  If then you have been raised up with Christ keep on seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your mind on things above, not on the things that are on the earth.  For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.