How to be an Ass

That's right - did you know the Bible likens followers of God to donkeys? These verses really stuck out to me recently and I've been noodling on them for a while now... These are God's words, speaking to Job in his distress:

"Who let the wild donkey go free?

Who untied its ropes?

I gave it the wasteland as its home,

the salt flats as its habitat.

It laughs at the commotion in the town;

it does not hear a driver’s shout.

It ranges the hills for its pasture

and searches for any green thing."

-Job 39: 5-8

I feel like the donkey in this passage is me - or what I aspire to be, anyway. God has already freed her from ropes and given her a home where she can "laugh at the commotion in town" and drown out the shouts of a driver. It's this beautiful picture of God's creature being freed from physical bondage but also freed from worry and concern for those that used to control her- she is free to range the hills and search for the good (green) things around her. What a dream! I want that! 

And thankfully, I too can lay down the ropes; I can stop listening to the shouts; and I can live my life free from the commotion of the world around me. Jesus crucified all of those things and He wants to take them from me. I'm laying them down. 

So what does a donkey do, now that it's free? What should I be doing - how should I be orienting my life to "range the hills" and "search for any green thing?"

I know that my work shouldn't be my identity and I know that everything I do should be to the glory of the One who made me. But it's hard when I feel like I'm still "tied down" or limited in my scope and influence -- like there's still so much I want to do but my current circumstances (my current role, my current schedule and energy levels, my current level of experience) won't let me do it.

Sometimes I do feel like certain ropes are holding me back and there's nothing I can do to untie them. 

I think that's where trust comes in -- donkeys are still mere animals and are not as "in charge" as their Master is. God's still at the reigns (horse pun!) in my life and He's the Good Shepherd who leads me along paths of righteousness for His name's sake (Psalm 23, verse 3). He "makes me" lie down in green pastures (verse 1). I trust that I can't - and shouldn't!- expect to be able to do this on my own. 

So what does that mean for me now - in the "meantime" where I'm waiting? This verse has been on my mind as well:

Wait for the Lord;

    be strong and take heart

    and wait for the Lord.

-Psalm 27:14

So three parts to dissect here: 

1. Wait for the Lord

2. Be strong

3. Take heart

Let's break it down:

1. Wait for the Lord: The key word here is "wait" or "qâvâh" which means:

 qâvâh: to wait for; look for; hope for; to be gathered and bound together; depending on; ordering activities around a future event. It's not a passive "waiting," but something we gather up, as if picking up sticks to bind together for a future use. 

Man, how cool is it to think about active waiting -- where you're NOT just a sitting duck awaiting your fate, but that you have a role to play in building up your trust and expectation in God's promise? That you're not just allowed, but encouraged  to actively look, hope, and depend on the Lord's provision!

2. Then the Psalmist calls us to be strong. This one is super interesting, too-- the word for "strong" here is 

châzaq: to strengthen, fortify, bind together, be courageous, overpower, and lay siege

This is another great reminder that in the waiting, we are being fortified and strengthened, and our resolve to trust in God will only grow stronger as we wait. I also love the thought of laying siege to something in this process -- to overcome a challenge or a fear or something that's standing in the way of fully trusting in God.

How can we "storm the gates" of these fears or other spiritual barriers to enter into a more full, more complete surrender?

3. And lastly, we're called to take heart, (whatever that means).

Actually, as you can probably guess, I did some research into what that means, so here you go:

v'ya'ametz libbekha: may He strengthen your hearts; let your heart take courage; be strong, stout, or bold; becoming firm or strengthened in spirit

Notice that it's the Lord who is actually doing the strengthening of our hearts -- we can be strengthened, but we aren't called to "garner up the strength by our own might," as if we're pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps. 

This is confusing for me, if I'm honest... I feel like the first two translations that I mentioned call us to actively seek after something and actively fortify our trust through overcoming obstacles. However, the last one seems more passive... we're letting our hearts be strengthened by God. We're not doing very much at all except be strengthened in the process of waiting on Him and being firm in our commitment to trust in Him.

There's some peace that comes with that, actually... it's God who is the One in control and we shouldn't ever be fooled into thinking we can strengthen ourselves by our own power. We need His power to work on our behalf.

Is that the key, then, to knowing what to "do" in the waiting? In order to more fully trust in God and see Him strengthen us, we just need to be intentionally hopeful and trusting, knowing that our strength will grow as we let God do His work in us?

That sounds good to me. 

Peace.