My family includes a one year old Goldendoodle named Luna. As I write this morning, she lays sprawled out on the cot purchased for her by her grandparents. Yes, my parents bought her a cot like her human brother and sister.
Luna is loved by many, but possibly none more than her nine year old brother Asher. Though they sometimes get into disagreements about what should be chewed, the two are the best of friends. Weighing in at 50 pounds each, they are pretty evenly matched in tug-of-war matches. They both love the outdoors and playing tennis. One could also say that they have the same taste in shoes…well, sort of. They look out for each other and want to go everywhere together. This desire to be together recently taught our family a great lesson about boundaries and blessings.
Luna has spent most of her time inside our house on one side of the first floor. With three baby gates and a length of fence, I feel we have provided boundaries that bless her with a great living environment. Her buddy Asher does not agree. He thinks his pup is ready for more freedom. When it comes to Luna, Asher keeps no record of wrongs and feels passionately that her life would be improved if she had greater access to all areas of the house, especially downstairs.
Recently, I made the mistake of telling him, “If you and your sister can make sure to keep small toys out of the living room, Luna can come out here too.” Without a word, Asher began scurrying around the living room picking up the red hungry hippo marble, lego wheel, and other oddities that he couldn’t seem to muster the energy to pick up all morning. As I rinsed dishes in the kitchen, I could hear the clickety-clack of baby gates being rearranged. I made it to the living room just in time to find the two little angels, boundary-less, watching TV together on the living room floor. I knew this fun would not last. Asher’s heart would break the next morning when he came downstairs and noticed that I had reassembled the gate and put her back in the “confinement area.”
As Asher sometimes disagrees with the boundaries I set for him and Luna, I have sometimes disagreed with the boundaries set for me by God. Adam and Eve had the same problem in the garden. With His word, God limited their access to the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God’s limit was to keep man within His presence and within the boundaries of all that was good. Satan used this limit to slander the heart of God. He encouraged Adam and Eve to step out of God’s boundaries, promising greater blessing. He was successful at getting both to believe the lie that God’s limits are sometimes unloving and unwise. He hid the truth that God is good; therefore, so are His boundaries for us.
I am sure Luna questions her boundaries. It must be confusing to be encouraged to chew a smelly furry groundhog toy but not an equally smelly cleaning rag. She must sometimes feel unloved when she is not allowed to drink out of the bowl in our bathroom. Perspective on boundaries comes from knowing the heart of the one by whom they were established. Trusting the heart of God leads to rejoicing within His boundaries. In Psalm 16 David writes,
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Where do we get our boundaries? Are they from our parents? Government? Friends? What feels right? Satan?
Today, may we rejoice with David in the Lord’s boundaries. May we be thankful that He has communicated boundaries in His Word. His boundary lines are good for us, even when they seem to limit us.
When we step out of His boundaries and find ourselves lost and unsatisfied, may we remember He has provided us a way to get back into His presence and within the blessing-filled boundary. Bound to Christ alone, we will find the greatest blessing.
May we choose this day who we will serve. Jesus tells us,
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” - John 14:6
“Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.” - John 12:26
—Roger Garrison
