Cows...

Cows...8-5-25

My husband has a statement that makes our close friends and I laugh out loud. "I hate cows!". What is so humorous about this is that we know he doesn't really, but then again sometimes they will get under his skin. One of the things they do that brings his ire is sticking their heads through the fence. The simple act that he sees as destructive is their desire to get the green grass on the other side. He will chase, make noises, yell, run at them, and any number of things to make them stop, only to turn around and they do it again. He sees this as defiant even though in actuality he understands that animals do not have our thought processes.

You see, we are often like these cows. We see the greener grass and want it. We work to get closer, within inches, stick our necks out, and stretch toward something that is just out of our reach. We often get a bite and God reminds us that isn't what we need. We back up, but then find ourselves going right back to trying to reach once again. We know we shouldn't, we have thought processes. But, the thing is so tempting and what really would it hurt.

Romans 7:21-25 highlights the struggle of doing good, desiring God's will, but also having human nature within us.

21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

I love to watch my husband with the cows. He knows them well. Just like God knows us. He knows their desires, just as God knows ours. But, I love how God put His Spirit in us to help us wage that war. His spirit guides us if we only listen. Matthew 6:13, "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."