[Thursday's Devotional] - Top Dog

Sometimes we have to deal with a difficult problem and we may not always handle things in the best way.  This can be for a number of reasons.  Because we think we know best, even when  the signs are against us.  Stubbornness.  Not thinking about it.  Believing it will sort itself out.  Or because we are the one who will decide what happens and nobody is going to tell us what to do.

 

In the Old Testament there is one such person that stands out.  No matter what happens he is not going to give way to anything because he is The Man, Top Dog.  Oops!                       Of course eventually he has to give in, and it would have been so much easier if he had listened to what was being said, and where it came from.  With a bit of apparent graciousness he could have made himself look even bigger than he already thought he was. Sorry Pharaoh but you really blew it, didn’t you. Top Dog?  Right letters, wrong spelling.             When God said, “Let my people go!” he was not going to take no for an answer. Unfortunately Pharaoh’s reluctance to accept the inevitable was to cost him very dear indeed, and his people and his country suffered badly too.

 

Very recently I was told that I had to change something that had been in place for fifteen years.  My initial feeling was that this was unnecessary and that someone with a bit of authority was just being petty to make themselves seem important.  Others who had to make the same change grumbled but grudgingly did as they were told right away.  But I would refuse.  I would make a stand.  I would challenge the person’s authority to make it happen. Fortunately I thought about it over the next 24 hours, and realised that it really was quite a small thing that would hardly make any difference to me.  And that I would almost certainly have to accept it in the long run, so to make a fuss would make me look silly anyway.  I have complied with the order.

 

Naturally, if the order had come from God I hope I would have realised and acted accordingly right away. Wouldn’t want to be another Pharaoh, that’s for sure.

 

Jim Finch