Katie was having so much fun! She, her sister Joy and her parents had moved out to the country only a month before, and she loved it there. She enjoyed watching the baby calves that lived on the farm right next to their house. She and Joy had even been able to watch while one calf was being born.
However, there were dogs that lived nearby too. And they scared Katie! Maybe they didn’t mean any harm, but they liked to chase people, barking wildly as they raced after them. The dogs had gotten into the pasture and chased the calves too, causing one of them to fall and break a leg. Katie and Joy had been so sad when they learned that, because of the broken leg, the calf could not live.
One day Katie was riding her bike out on the country road. She wasn’t thinking about dogs or injured baby calves. She felt safe, because very few cars traveled on the road, and also her mother was watching her. What fun it was to ride on the road.
Suddenly, her bike ride was no longer happy. Those dogs came racing across the grass and were headed straight for her! They were barking loudly and sounded mean! Her mother was a long way off, too far away to help Katie as she faced being attacked by those dogs.
But Katie and her mother have a Friend who loves them and is always with those who belong to Him. His name is Jesus. Both Katie and her mother, who saw what was happening, quickly prayed to Him about the approaching dog problem. Katie is a little afraid of animals anyway, and she knew she was in real trouble. As she prayed to her Friend, the Lord Jesus, she asked Him to protect her from the dogs, and she also prayed that they wouldn’t hurt any more baby calves either!
In answer to her prayer, the Lord Jesus gave her wisdom to stop where she was - not to keep on riding her bike. The dogs liked to chase moving things. So they stopped when she stopped and stood there, waiting for her to move again. She began to pedal away slowly, but then they ran at her, barking fiercely! But the Lord Jesus helped her not to panic, and she stopped again. After a few minutes the dogs’ owner came out and called off the dogs. What a relief !
Katie pedaled quickly to the safety of home. She told her mother how she had prayed about the dogs and how Jesus had answered that prayer and protected her. Just then Joy came running in to announce, “The dogs are chasing the cows again!”
Dogs have only one nature, a dog nature, which is sometimes mean because of sin being in this world. They do what their natures tell them to do, unless they are well trained by a wise master. The Lord Jesus didn’t “cure” those dogs that day of their natural desire to chase cows. But if you have taken the Lord Jesus as your own Saviour, you have two natures - an old one that only knows how to sin, and a new one that is just like our wonderful Lord Jesus.
Dogs are kept alive by the food they eat. And our natures, new or old, are made weak or strong by what we fill our minds with. If you want to be more like the Lord Jesus, you need to fill your heart and mind with His Word, the Bible. “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to Thy word” (Psalm 119:9).
If you have a certain problem with your old nature that likes to sin, do what Katie did -ask the Lord Jesus for help. Then read His letter to you, the Bible, and memorize verses that have to do with your special problem. Ask Him to help you obey His Word. The One who gave Katie wisdom to deal with those dogs can give you wisdom and strength to live for Him too.
“Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 124:8).
ML-06/24/2007