Sammy is a very loyal and loving dog. Even though he is a golden retriever, he hates the game of “fetch” and would much rather have ME chase after HIM to retrieve whatever he has chosen to grab. This afternoon I discovered that our golden retriever had chewed through yet another “tie-out.” Although not on the same level of naughtiness as Marley, of recent “Marley and Me” fame, Sammy does have a desire to get loose and run. In those times, I imagine that if he could talk, he would be laughing and proclaiming, “Ha! Catch me if you can! Ha!” In those moments, my heart pounds and I cry out for him to come back, knowing that his odds of getting hit on our busy street are very high! He does not realize that his restrictions are for his own good.
On my way home from yet another trip to the hardware store, I pondered how similar in nature I am to Sammy. I so often think the “ties” are constraining, and want to run away, not realizing that it is God’s grace that reaches out to pursue me and hold me to Him. Like Sammy, I forget all the dangers that lurk so near. I recalled the hymn, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing:
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.
Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.
O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.
Knowing God through His Word ... Day by Day 