A Mangy Dog

Dear Reverend Counsel,

I wish to deepen my relationship with Christ, but I find in every devotion a thread I think is part and not the whole of scripture. I find this confusing. Can you recommend a way to read scripture, as I earnestly desire to know and do God’s will?

Sally

Dear Sally,

Yours is a good question. I will do my best to frame it. I concede seeking God can sometimes be like attempting to find a misplaced object that you left in a room. You know what you are looking for and you think you know where it is, but you cannot find it right away. You must find it because you need it, and so, you do not give up looking. The search almost always reveals unexpected discoveries. I think this is the heart of your question. The first thing you must know is where to look, and you would be right in looking in the room. But, which room?

For the Christian, there are a few rooms where we can find our Lord. First, there is nature, God’s creation in which many find Him but only during those times when nature seems to express her sublime revelations and almost never when she is indifferent. There is also the room inside your heart where only you and God know the truth. This is a good place to look, maybe the best place. Then, there is scripture, God’s revealing of Himself to us, though it does demand a lifetime because God is eternal and infinite. The latter two are adjoining for in scripture we find not only God, but ourselves.

I think there are two ways to read scripture. Most common is to find what is there that God wishes us to be and to do. We read to find what is good, in God, in others, and in ourselves in order to affect the world around us, to make our life and world a better place. I cannot disagree with such an approach except we risk seeing the effort through pride, self-will and our worldview, as if we become responsible for it.

There is another way. We can come to scripture much as a mangy dog looking for a home and relief from a hellish infestation. Coming this way means we recognize that something is wrong. Scripture is full of mangy dog stories, and there we not only discover something of ourself, but also of God’s character and will. Coming as the mangy dog means we come knowing our need, that the owner of the house will take us in and apply the cure. Every cleaning of the mange tells us something of the owner because he sees something in us we did not.

What do we find? Simply, we see other mangy dogs as the owner saw us. His will is in response, and so should ours be. No longer can we resign to our circumstance. God knows what we will choose before we choose it, and He always desires that we choose His way.