The Human Whisperer
by Susan Anspaugh

 

            I am new to the world of dogs.  I recently acquired a 2 month old Pomeranian puppy.  My grandson named him ‘Bucky’.  Now, I have never owned a puppy in my entire adult life.  My husband had a cat when we first married and I was not the least bit unhappy to see her disappear from our life.  I have never been an animal person—they are messy, annoying, and they cost too much.   I did not even know there was an entire ‘dog cult’, peopled by most of the world, apparently, who have dogs.  Most of the people in my neighborhood have them; I just never saw them.  Once I got Bucky, however, it was like I was initiated into an entire new world and I was accepted immediately by people who had never even spoken to me before.  Amazing!

            The other day, I was trying to teach Bucky to retrieve, so we could play catch.  He has the ‘fetch’ part down, but we are not connecting on how to get him to bring the toy back to me.  He runs away with it.  When I try to get him to bring it back, he just looks at me.  I can see in his eyes he knows I am saying something, but he just does not understand.  I think he wants to understand and do what I am saying, but he doesn’t speak my language and I do not speak his (dog is an official language in my book).

            Now, if I really want to learn how to communicate with my puppy, I can read a book or take him to obedience school or call the dog whisperer to come over and help me interact more successfully.  I don’t know if I can teach him the complex concept of ‘retrieve’, when he thinks I want to play chase, on my own.  As a dog, it does not make sense to him.  As humans, we have the same problem.  In Isaiah, God is speaking to his people (Israel) and he says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Is. 55:8, 9 NIV).

            One of the biggest errors we make as humans is we think we are on the same level with God.  We look at life and behavior from our own understanding because there is a gap in understanding between ourselves and God.  Just like Bucky can’t understand what I say because I am speaking the human language (no matter how smart he is), we cannot understand the God who created the universe on our own.  We need help.  God has provided us with that help—his manual for us.  The Bible is our guide to understanding the eternal God and what it is he wants from us-our own human whisperer.  In 2 Timothy 3: 15, 16, Paul the apostle is writing to a young man named Timothy.  He says, ‘and from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work’ (NIV).

            God’s word, the Old and New Testaments, speak to us in language we can understand if we are willing to take the time and read and learn.  It is a big manual.  But, God is a very big God.  He loves us enough to want us to understand him.  Do you love him the same?