When God Corrects

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…From the direction of the papaw bushes I heard Circus’s voice scolding loud and hard. “Stop it! Come back here, you mongrel! Leave that rabbit alone!”

I knew Ichabod wasn’t any mongrel, which is a dog of mixed breed. Ichabod was a purebred black-and-tan. Circus was calling him a mongrel because he was disgusted with him for some reason….

Then I saw Circus. He didn’t seem to realize what was going on or that we were anywhere around. He kept on calling Ichabod in a scolding voice. I noticed also that he had picked up a switch and was waiting for his hound to come to him so that he could give him a lesson in hunting--not to get off onto a rabbit trail when he was supposed to be on a red-hot other animal trail.

Just as I thought, Circus gave his cute, very sad little hound a small switching and scolding, saying down to him--and apparently still not realizing that we were around--“Rabbits are trash! Do you understand? I started you off on a coon trail, and you were doing fine until that bunny jumped up right in front of your nose, and you let him interrupt you! If you’re going to be a trash trailer, you’ll be a terrible disappointment. You won’t be worth a hill of beans if you don’t learn to concentrate!”

I broke in then, saying “Rabbits aren’t trash!” I was thinking how very cute small bunnies are and also remembering one I had seen being eaten by a huge stub-tailed wildcat down by the mouth of the branch yesterday.

“Part of the time they’re trash,” Circus answered like a teacher correcting a boy in class. “Any game the hunter isn’t after at the time is trash. That’s the name they give it. I’m training Ichabod not to get sidetracked onto anything--not rabbit, possum, skunk, or anything--when I’ve started him on something else.”

I looked down at Ichabod’s sad face and felt sorry for him. It seemed a shame he’d had to be punished. I guess maybe Circus felt even worse than I did about it, though, for a second later he was down on his knees hugging his cute little black-and-tan and crooning to him, “I’ve got a plan for your life. I can’t let you be a trash trailer. You’ll never be any good at trailing wildcats like your mother if you don’t learn now! Understand?”

(Sugar Creek Gang, The Killer Cat, pg. 71-73)

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I choked up as I read this section of my Sugar Creek Gang book this afternoon.

In my mind’s eye I pictured a young boy cuddling his little puppy against him, and it seems I’ve been in that little puppy’s place before with Someone comforting me after I’ve been bad. And I’ve heard that gentle whisper of encouragement and rebuke: “I’ve got a plan for your life. I can’t let you be a trash trailer.”

There are times in our lives when we are like that little black-and-tan puppy. We’re happily scampering through the woods of life, following the trail our Master has pointed out for us. Then we get too far ahead of Him. We hear His voice calling, but we keep plodding on ahead, confident that we know what we’re doing. Suddenly a temptation in the form of a rabbit jumps out of the brush, right in front of our nose. Being young and spiritually weak, we settle for chasing that rabbit when we could be trailing something so much bigger and better--a wildcat!

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) It takes faith to sniff out the trail of that fierce wildcat and trust that that scent will eventually lead us to an enormous prize--a “wildcat,” if you will, meaning a blessing or a victory. We have been brainwashed by this scoffing world to live for NOW…the present. To have faith in something you can’t see is ridiculous, they tell us. But is that true? The scent of that wildcat is the evidence of something that hasn’t been seen yet by our eyes, nevertheless, the scent is proof that a wildcat is somewhere up ahead.

We can do one of two things: we can have faith in God and keep trailing the “wildcat,” or we can live by sight and go after the “rabbit.”

Too often in life we get off track. A little temptation throws us totally off the path the Master has chosen for us. There are an over abundance of “rabbits” in life, and they seem especially dead-set on showing up just when we’re hot on the trail of a “wildcat,” whether that’s a blessing we’re about to receive or a victory we’re determined to attain. Satan has plenty of trash--and I mean TRASH--to toss in our pathway when we’re pursuing righteousness. He sends the rabbit, possum, and skunk--wicked men and women, filthy advertisements, bad friends, and peer pressure--anything we’re least expecting from where we’re least expecting it.

Like the puppy, we get off track, chasing a “rabbit.” Then we hear God’s voice calling to us to come away from our worthless pursuit. We run away for a while, but eventually He catches up with us, and then we feel the hot sting of His rod of correction. God can’t use a Christian who’s always trailing after trash. Just like Circus with his puppy, God has to correct us when we’ve done wrong…when we let ourselves get interrupted from our important task of following after “wildcats.”

I’m reminded of a verse in Proverbs that goes like this: “My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.”

Then, when God is finished giving us a spanking, He lovingly takes us into His arms, and if we listen real close we’ll hear a gentle voice saying something like this:

“I’ve got a plan for your life.
I can’t let you be a trash trailer.”

Christian, are you letting God have His way in your life? He can’t use a trash trailer; they’re of no use to Him. Don’t you want the prize that awaits at the end of that trail of faith? Don’t you want to capture that “wildcat”? Won’t you claim that wonderful blessing or victory as your own? If you’re going to be a trash trailer, you’ll be a terrible disappointment. You won’t be worth a hill of beans if you don’t learn to concentrate. The “rabbit” of temptation may be fun to chase for a little while, but in the end it’s not worth all the energy you put into pursuing it. Wouldn’t it be far better to track that major blessing God wants to give you? All it takes is concentration and commitment and determination. Christian, are you letting God have His way in your life?

“I’ve got a plan for your life.
I can’t let you be a trash trailer.”