Why barking is essential to walking in faith

A few years ago we adopted a rescue dog to keep Quincy, our first Boston Terrier, company when we weren't available to play with her.Jack came with issues. Rescue dogs normally do. But we have issues too, so together we make a nice little family.Quincy sleeps in bed with us. Jack... not so much.In fact we finally moved him to the family room to sleep in his crate, which is his cozy, little, safe place and where he settles down to snore the night away.

The issue?

Jack is an early riser. A very early riser. Like at 4:30 in the morning early riser.Once he's awake, Jack starts to bark ... and whine ... and bark some more.Although he's on the far side of the house from our bedroom, we can still hear him. We cover our heads with pillows and hope he'll go back to sleep, but he doesn't.Eventually either Tom or I, whichever one of us can't hold out any longer, gets up and lets Jack out of his crate so he can go pee in the back yard.And if he doesn't want to go pee, we ignore his exuberant attempts at play, leave the back door open a crack in case he changes his mind about peeing, and head back to the bedroom, shut the door behind us, and try to pull in a half hour or so of lost sleep.So this morning, as we're going through this morning routine with Jack, I began to wonder if God feels resentful when we whine and bark, whine and bark, and ... whine and bark.

You know what I mean...

...when we actually follow the advice of the parable Jesus told of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8).This lady had been mistreated by someone and wanted justice. She would pound on the judge's door, plead with him, and demand that he listen to her case and deal with her adversary.The judge ignored her until he couldn't stand her pestering him any more. He finally granted her request and dealt with her enemy.Jesus concludes the story with these words:

And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

God's not like me. He doesn't resent the pestering whining and barking. (Well, I'm not so sure about the whining part, but I know he definitely doesn't resent the barking part.)In fact, He ties the barking in with recognizable faith.Sooooo, my nightly prayer barking about the promises of God I'm still waiting to see fulfilled in my kids and grandkids is OK with God.In fact, it's a sign that I'm still walking in faith.

As long as I bark, I'm walking in faith.

Consider your barking as part of keeping your legacy focused on Jesus. The results may still be processing, but His promises WILL come to pass. And barking helps.So tell me, what are you barking to God about lately? I'd like to know I'm not the only one sitting in my crate barking for God to come open the door.xox,Susan