Live Dog
“Anyone who is among the living has hope —even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!” - Ecclesiastes 9:4
Let me explain how this blog got its name:
They say you can’t give yourself a nickname. Others have to give it to you. It seems the one exception to that is rap artists. Well, I’m a 58 year old balding white guy. So, there is no way that I can be confused for a rapper, but if I was one, I would take the name of “LiveDog”!
Why? Well, it comes from the Bible verse cited above (Ecclesiastes 9:4). This verse has helped me during many decisive times in my life. Let me give you a little background of my life to help you understand. I’m originally from a farm town in Central Illinois. As a kid, I was picked on fairly regularly. In today’s terms, I was bullied. My middle school and early high school years were not very fun for me. My daily goal was to just survive the school day by being as invisible as possible. That wore at my confidence, and it caused me to under-appreciate myself.
Fast forward a few years. inspired by events that occurred in my life after graduating from college, I decided to pursue becoming as a missionary. During this time, those old feelings of inadequacy resurfaced. I began to think, “Who am I to think I could become a missionary?!” I’d think of all the great missionaries of the past – like, Hudson Taylor in China, Adonirum Judson in Burma or Jim Elliot with the Aucas in Ecuador. Or even the great believers of the Bible, like Paul traveling in Greece and Turkey. How could I compare myself to them?!
It was during this time that I was introduced to the verse, Ecclesiastes 9:4. “Anyone who is among the living has hope —even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!”
I definitely felt like a dog. Not the cute little doggy laying faithfully by your side, but rather, like a scraggly street mutt - which is how dogs were viewed in the time of the author of the book of Ecclesiastes. Dogs basically served two purposes: 1) home security and 2) a garbage disposal.
While being called a dog at the time was considered a very strong insult, being compared to a the lion was, and still is, viewed as a being noble and majestic. Like in Genesis 49:9 “You are a lion’s cub, Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?”
In Ecclesiastes 9:4 there is an important distinction between the lion and the dog – one was dead and one was alive. So, no matter how great the lion was during his lifetime, he is of little use now since he’s dead. On the other hand, since he’s alive, the dog, no matter how lowly he’s considered, still has an opportunity to be useful.
In the same way, no matter how great those great missionaries and people of the Bible of the past were, they are of little use right now because of the fact that they are dead. Sure, their writings and deeds can still be an encouragement for us, but they are no longer able to physically ..., “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:9). Someone else put it another way, “Your best ability is your availability”.
After reading this and thinking it over, my outlook changed. I understood that I may be just a “dog”, but I can still be used by God!
Do you feel more like a dog than a lion? That’s ok, because God could use more “dogs” like us anyway. In Luke chapter 10, we read about Jesus sending out 72 people to minister – not the 12 disciples (the “lions”), but 72 other followers (the “dogs”).
10:1 “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.”
What was the result of this step of faith? Let’s read on:
17 “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.””
There are less than 20,000 lions left in this world, but there are more than 525 million dogs. So much will be missed out if we rely on the “lions” to do all the work and not us “Live Dogs”!
In future blogs, my goal is to share what I’ve learned from my years of teaching God’s Word as either a missionary, pastor and teacher - One “Live Dog” to another. : )