Why Do I Follow God?

My poor Honeybun could not walk at all yesterday. I called the vet, and asked what I could do. She prescribed an anti-inflammatory, and doubled her nerve block/pain meds. With Honeybun's lumbar spinal stenosis, inflammation causes the area to swell, and then the nerves become restricted and pinched through the narrow vertebrae. While it looks terrible, and she cannot walk when it flares, if the inflammation can be kept under control, she should be fine. Honeybun didn't move all day, but after her second dose of meds around 5 pm, she finally stood up and walked a short trip outside! She even trotted a little. There was a beautiful sunset, and my heart was full to overflowing with gratitude and love. This morning, she was not yet walking easily, but it was much better, and she even hopped up on the couch.

For every child out there who loves animals, consider becoming a veterinarian. The joy a helpful vet brings to people like me who love their dogs with all their heart is worth every penny you spend on your education. I am so thankful that there are people who want to help others, both animal and people others.

The flare-up was probably caused by how well she was feeling, and how much running around and longer walks she was taking. We just need to be careful to keep her walks slow and short. She loves her walks, but what she loves most are the frequent stops to sniff. That plays right into her disability wheel-house.

I have just started the book of Job in my daily Bible reading. This is a perfect book to be reading now with the challenges in not only my poor dog, but in my life in general. I work my way through the Bible every day, and when I finish Revelations, I start back on Genesis. Over the years, I have read the complete Bible many times. What is astonishing is each time, I see it from a completely new perspective. This is because I am a new person, slowly transforming as each day sputters to an end.

I have always considered Job one of the cruelest, and most difficult books of the Bible. I still don't like it. I always wonder why God taunts Satan to consider the Godly Job and his righteousness before God. Satan, evil but no fool, challenges God that Job would lose his goodness right away if God's hedge of protection were removed. God says, "Try him." And Satan unleashes a full, cruel torrent of disasters on the poor, unsuspecting Job.

As I am reading it now, I am thinking about the story from a new perspective. Instead of wondering why God allowed Satan such awful dominion over His servant, I am asking new questions. Maybe God's taunt of Satan had little to do with Satan, and everything to do with Job. Maybe Job was not a pawn in Satan's hands, but Satan was a pawn in God's hands. Maybe God knew that His servant Job needed to understand one of the most basic questions of the relationship with his Heavenly Father, and suffering was the only way it could be answered honestly.

Why do I follow God? Why do I love Him? Is it because He grants me health, family, freedom, and blessings? No doubt, as a young Christian that was my primary motivation. But if He chose to remove all that...even now after following Him for nearly 30 years....would I still love Him? That is the big question Job grapples with. It is a terrifying question to answer, unless one truly believes, with no shadow of doubt, that God is good and His presence is all sufficient. Job does eventually come to that conclusion.

I know that Honeybun will not live forever. We have been granted a respite, but not a cure. And even if it were a cure, dogs, like humans, are mortal. But, that is only part of existance. God promises that whoever believes in Jesus and His substitutionary sacrifice for our sins through His death on the cross will have eternal life. Satan may be allowed to take away everything we hold dear in our mortal lives, but he can never take God from us. Our soul can only be bargained away by our conscious decision and choice. Oh loved ones, I pray you choose God!

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Job 1:9-11 NIV
[9] “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. [10] “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. [11] But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

Job 42: 1-6 ESV
Then Job answered the Lord and said: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

-save a dog- hollowcreekfarm.org
http://www.amazon.com/Vicky-Kaseorg/e/B006XJ2DWU