Sit and Stay

Season: Learn Obedience from the Masters | Topics: Surrender, Young Women

Claire Black: Welcome to True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. I’m Claire Black! Together, we’ll explore God’s truth for us one drive at a time. Buckle up! You’re about to grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus.

Song:

I am a true girl.
Oh, oh, oh, oh.
I am, I am, I am a true girl!

Does your family have a dog? Even if you don’t, did you know you can learn a lot from those canine companions? Yeah, God gave us hairy dog friends for companionship and cuddles, protection and joy, but we can also learn some life lessons from them.

One of the things God teaches us through our dogs is obedience. We want our dogs to obey because they’re reflections of our family and home. But dogs have wills of their own, and …

Song:

I am a true girl.
Oh, oh, oh, oh.
I am, I am, I am a true girl!

One of the things God teaches us through our dogs is obedience. We want our dogs to obey because they’re reflections of our family and home. But dogs have wills of their own, and boy do they love to use them! Someone invented leashes to keep dogs in line, because they can be so unpredictable.

God, on the other hand, doesn’t leash us. The decision to be obedient falls directly on us. If God forced us to obey, it wouldn’t be love motivating us. Yet Jesus tells us in John 14, verse 15, “If you love me, you will obey my commandments.”

Dannah Gresh and Suzy Weibel are reminded of that truth. Suzy’s dog Selah is at a dog show, where it’s really important that she obeys, and she knows that. But it turns out that that’s not the main reason she does what Suzy wants her to.

This season is called “Learn Obedience from the Masters,” and we’re ready for episode one, “Sit and Stay.”

Here’s Dannah!

(sounds of a dog show)

Dannah Gresh: Suzy, I was so happy that you invited me to watch Selah compete in her obedience trial today . . . but this is bringing back some serious memories for me. I haven’t been to a dog show since I was twelve.

Suzy: Oh, that’s right! I forgot that your dad used to be an obedience master.

Dannah: Well, his dogs sure were! He had a couple that were ranked nationally.

Suzy: Trust me, if you have an obedience dog that is ranked nationally, you, the handler, are an obedience master.

Dannah: (laughter) I’m pretty sure my dad would love to accept that title!

Suzy: Well, Selah isn’t exactly ranked nationally. In fact, we’ll be lucky if we get a qualifying score today. We need three passing scores to get her next title!

Dannah: That almost sounds like you are saying you are not a master trainer.

Suzy: (laughter) Girlfriend, you could not say anything more true! No, Selah is a good dog, and she already has her CD title, which stands for Companion Dog. But now we’re trying to earn her a CDX title in the next level of obedience. That X means “excellent”! We’re adding jumps and fetching, and every single exercise is off leash!

Dannah: Oh boy, that sounds like a recipe for disaster if the dog doesn’t feel like obeying that day. These rings don’t have gates. Most of the dogs here could jump over the fencing if they wanted to. It’s not very tall.

Suzy: I’ll bet your dad’s dogs never did that!

Dannah: (laughter) Oh, how my dad wishes that were true! No, his highest ranked dog decided one day that he just wasn’t having any of it!

My dad was in the ring . . . and this was a champion dog. Everyone knew he was a champion dog. His name was Buck. Buck had figured something out and it was this: when my dad was in the show ring, he never got corrected. She he kind of discerned that my dad couldn't correct him . . . which is true. If you correct a dog in the ring, you are done. You're not in competition then for that day.

So he went into the ring, and in the middle of the competition he sat down and took a little nap. He literally sat there like, "Hey, you can't do anything about it." And, my dad could do nothing about it.

He left, and it was my dad who had his "tail between his legs."

Suzy: No! That is every handler's nightmare!

Dannah: Smart dog.

Suzy: Although I do have to say it’s pretty fun to watch from the audience. Like when a dog gets to zooming in the obedience ring. I’ve seen it happen before. You always feel bad for the handler, but all you hear from the crowd is laughter.

Dannah: Yeah, I don’t think my dad was laughing that day.

Suzy: You know, as Selah and I were training for this trial, I couldn’t help but think about how amazing it is that we can get these dogs to do things like stop right in their tracks and lay down, with a hand signal. Or, sit without moving for three minutes with all this chaos going on around them. I can train using treats (and Selah loves treats). But do you remember that we’re not allowed to bring treats or rewards of any kind into the ring during a competition?

Dannah: I do remember that. That’s one of the hardest things about obedience, I think. At home we can get Moosie to do almost anything we ask of him with a treat. Farmer Bob and I just wave that bacon flavored morsel in front of his nose, and he snaps to attention like a soldier—even now as a senior dog.

Suzy: Right. And dogs are smart! They know when a reward is on the line, and they aren’t going to miss out! But they also seem to sense when you don’t have anything for them, suddenly, sniffing the floor at a leisurely pace seems a lot more fun than jumping over a raised bar to fetch a silly barbell.

Dannah: Suzy, I hate to say this, but . . .

Suzy: (singing) Your dog’s better than my dog. Your dog’s better than mine.

Dannah: (Laughs) No, silly! But I do remember that jingle. What I was going to say is that I’m afraid we behave like these dogs sometimes.

Suzy: Okay, I think I know what you’re getting at here. We only want to obey when there’s something in it for us, right?

Dannah: Mmm-hmm, something like that. When we know there’s something in it for us, when we know someone is watching, when we know we’ll be rewarded somehow.

Suzy: Sadly, I think you are right. And I’m pretty sure this is something the Bible addresses directly, doesn’t it?

Dannah: In several places. The first one I think of is when Jesus was talking about the behavior of the Pharisees in Matthew 6. We don’t have Pharisees any longer today, but we still have a name that we use to describe people who act like the Pharisees did.

Suzy: Are you talking about “hypocrites”?

Dannah: Bingo! In Matthew 6 Jesus points out that they loved to make a big show of obeying the law. They wouldn’t exactly follow the law when no one was looking, but if they could have an audience they would have won first place in an obedience trial!

Suzy: They wanted to work for a reward just like these dogs.

Dannah: Yep, and their reward was the praise of men. They liked to be popular!

Suzy: But we do reward our dogs, which isn’t wrong. And doesn’t the Bible even say that we will receive a reward one day? I’m going to look this up on my phone. I think it’s in Colossians.

Yes, here it is! In Colossians 3, verses 22–24, Paul says:

Don’t work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but work wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people, knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord.

Dannah: Yeah, in those verses Paul says we should always more or less consider God to be our boss, the one we are working for. If we think of God as the one who is asking us to do something, I would hope we are more eager to obey!

Suzy: Jesus said if we only obey Him in front of other people, if we toot our own horn to be sure everyone is looking, that attention from other people is the only reward we get.

That would kind of be like if I only trained Selah to obey when they immediately get a treat from my hand, they would never be able to earn a title. She could only be successful in practice where I am allowed to have treats on hand. But if they can learn to wait for their reward . . .

Dannah: Right! She can become masters when they learn to wait for the reward! If she only obeyed when you handed her a treat, she would be missing out on the biggest reward of all!

Dog Show Announcer: All dogs in Open Obedience report to the ring.

Suzy: Oh boy, Dannah, it’s the moment of truth! Pray for us!! Wow, I’m really nervous right now.

Dannah: I have to say, Selah doesn’t look nervous at all.

Suzy: Yeah, well, she has no idea what’s at stake. She’s just happy whenever she gets to spend time with me.

Dannah: Suze! I think that’s the secret to obedience right there!

Suzy: What is?

Dannah: Girl, we can talk later; you’d better go. Are you stalling on purpose?

Suzy: Maybe . . . pray for us!

Dannah: You’ve got this. I think she’s going to qualify, and I think I know why. Go! Go!

Suzy: Okay . . . ah! I'll see you in about ten minutes!

Claire: Ladies, I’m on the edge of my seat here! Talk about a cliffhanger! Did Selah pass?

I think I can see what Dannah was going to say at the end, before Suzy and Selah were called into the ring. Did you catch it? Suzy said that Selah is happy whenever she gets to spend time with Suzy. We’ll check on that next time, but I think it has to do with relationship!

Selah is living for a reward that comes later. She doesn’t get her reward in the ring—that would be against the rules. She gets it in private, after the competition, back in her crate. But she still obeys.

I won’t be able to see you, but raise your hand if you think that Selah is willing to wait . . . because of love. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey my commands.”

And the first step in obeying God’s commands is knowing them!

One great way to learn God’s commands is by spending time in His Word every day. It’s not something you do so that God loves you, but because you love God and want to know Him better.

If you aren’t sure how to get started in a regular Bible reading habit, I hope the True Girl Subscription box can help you. Every sixty days we’ll send you daily devotionals that get you into the Word, fun activities, and other things that will help you remember what you’re learning. Your mom can learn more and subscribe at MyTrueGirl.com.

Next time, we’ll find out if Selah got a passing score. I think she’ll help us understand even better how relationship and obedience work together! I hope you’ll listen in.

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