God Leads in Love

There are two ways to lead a wild animal - by building trust or by taking the reins. 

I watch a fair amount of the old show Pit Bulls and Parolees. Very frequently, the staff of the rescue center are called upon to catch a stray dog or a dog that has been dumped. The dog is usually scared, possibly aggressive, and confident in its own smartness (which often leads it more astray than anything, but you can't tell that to a wild dog). The staff comes in, sets up a large enclosure, then starts teaching the dog where the food is. A scrap here, a scrap there, ever closer, ever more trusting, until there are a few scraps in the enclosure, then more, then a whole meal - enough to occupy the stray long enough for the staff to sneak over and close the door. 

The other way to catch a stray, of course, is to tie some sort of lasso, slip it over the head, and take the animal by force. 

For much of human civilization, as long as we have been domesticating animals, we've taken largely the second approach. We have designed yokes and bits and reins that we first wrestled onto the animals, then trained them to accept. These tiny little control devices give us absolute dominion over the animal. We can tell it where to go and when and how fast and with what in tow. The animal has no choice but to obey us when we control it by bits and reins. 

But we can never know if it loves us or not. We can never know if it trusts us or not. Maybe it doesn't even really matter. 

But it matters to God. 

We are but wild animals, but God doesn't want to tame us by bits and reins and yokes. He doesn't want to lead us by controlling our movements. God is more like the staff of Pit Bulls and Parolees - He wants to teach us to trust Him. He wants to be our provider and our refuge and our friend until we are so trusting that we go where He's trying to lead us, that we live the way He wants us to live, that we come under His protection and live secure in Him. 

Psalm 32 tells us this plainly - I will teach you and tell you the way to go and how to get there; I will give you good counsel, and I will watch over you. But don't be stubborn and stupid like horses and mules who, if not reined by leather and metal, will run wild, ignoring their masters.

In other words, don't make Me get the reins out. That's not the relationship I want with you. 

Don't get me wrong: He will if He has to. If we insist on being stubborn and stupid, God will get out the bits and reins, the leather and metal. He doesn't want to. He'd rather lead us in trust and good counsel and love. But sometimes...we're mules. We just are. 

Where is God's love leading you today? What is He trying to teach you about His goodness? What are you struggling to learn? 

Are you trusting...or are you a stubborn sort of mule?