Exodus 3:6: “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
I have a 7:00 AM run in my disability bus four days a week where I pick up Jimmy and Andy and take them to the VA Hospital. Jimmy is an Iraq war vet and Andy is his Seeing Eye dog. Andy and I got off on the wrong paw on our first run a couple weeks ago. We still had a lot of ice and snow on the sidewalk and when Jimmy hit an icy patch making his way to my bus I grabbed Jimmy by the arm to steady him. Andy was not too pleased with this act. Either he thought I was attacking his beloved master or more than likely, knowing Andy, he felt I was trying to take over his job. Andy can be a bit arrogant. I mean out of a liter of thirteen dogs only three were chosen to be a member of that elite corps of Seeing Eye dogs. The rest were sent off to military school to sniff out bombs or to police departments to sniff out drugs. So any dog reaching such a coveted position would naturally be a bit arrogant.
As I kept guiding Jimmy over the ice Andy kept nudging me with his nose. I told Andy I had absolutely no intention of taking over his job, I was just doing my own job. But Andy would have none of it and just kept getting in way. We made it onto the bus where Andy keep nudging me with his nose as I tried to Jimmy’s seat belt. I guess Andy felt he could do it better. Jimmy finally had to reprimand Andy who quickly laid down and looked up at his master with those sorrowful eyes.
Well, we were on our way. Of course Andy was not wearing a seat belt and I could hear him sliding around in the back of the bus while I was going through stop and go traffic. Suddenly a driver blew a stop sign and I was forced to hit the brake really hard. I heard something skidding to the front of the bus, it was Andy who came crashing into the dash board. I told Andy I was sorry but someone pulled out in front of me and I had to stop quickly. Andy only paused long enough to glare at me as he made his way back to the rear of the bus.
We arrived at the VA Hospital and found a bunch of Vets standing around and even though Andy is not a veteran, they accepted him. They all gathered around to say hi. Now you are not supposed to pet a service dog but that is like putting a candy bar in front of a six year old and saying you are not supposed to eat it. Especially when Andy is standing there wagging his tail and smiling as if to say, “Come on, you can pet me, I won’t tell anyone.” As they walked away Andy gave me a parting glance as if to say, “See these are my friends, they don’t bounce me around in a bus.
Andy was born at the Seeing Eye foundation in a liter of thirteen puppies. All the puppies from this liter were given a name starting with the first letter of the alphabet, A. He is a direct descendent of the original Seeing Eye dog. Out of the thirteen puppies only three qualified for Seeing Eye training. It cost $75,000 to train Andy. So I guess you can’t blame him if he is little proud and arrogant.
This morning Jimmy told me that when he took Andy for a walk last night another dog, he thinks a pit bull, escaped from his neighbor’s house and attacked Andy. Well Andy is a German Shepherd and these dogs are also used as guard dogs. I mean Andy could have taken this dog out, paws down. But Jimmy said Andy was trained not to fight back. He said he took Andy for a walk this morning and Andy avoided walking near the house where the local bully attacked him. In Andy’s defense, he is no coward, but I am sure he would have fought back if he were not properly instructed in the rules of engagement. Anyways, Andy didn’t need to worry as Jimmy called Animal Control and they came out and arrested the thug dog. I told Jimmy that Andy was expensive property. If you put a scratch on a $75,000 car you can bet you would pay for it not to mention maybe being arrested for vandalism and Andy indeed was a good piece of property. I heard Andy start to whine and I suddenly felt guilty and apologized and said: “I’m sorry Andy, I didn’t mean to call you property, but really that is what you are.” Jimmy then said Andy was just yawning. Figures, Andy was just bored. I guess it is true that when someone is special they really don’t have to defend themselves or remind you of how special they are, their reputation stands.
We look at this passage in Exodus 3:6 and think nothing of it. Yet look at it closely like the sages did. Note that God tells Moses that He is the God of his father, didn’t he know that? Then God starts to list his descendants. I mean doesn’t Moses already know his pedigree? But this is what the sages really stress. God does not say I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Actually there are no prepositional phrases here in Hebrew the names are used as adjectives. God is saying, “I am Abraham’s God, Isacc’s God and Jacob’s God. So why such detail? God is showing that He is a personal God. Jacob was not worshipping his father’s God, he was worshipping his own personal God, relating to God in his own way, not his father’s way.
I hear Christians talk all the time using phrases and snappy little Scriptural insight that they heard from some TV preacher that they admire. It is almost as if they were following that preacher’s God, rather than using their own phrases and Scripture insights. I was in a church one time where everyone was grunting and groaning. At some point in the church’s history there was a guest speaker who, allegedly, under the power of the Spirit started to grunt and groan. Now everyone was grunting and groaning. I am not saying that the Spirit of God will not manifest Himself in such a way, but how about finding your own way with God. He is a personal God, your own personal God.
There are people who want to feel special, so they long to be on the platform at church giving the announcements, serving communion, singing in the worship team or the prize of all prize preaching a sermon, just to feel they are someone special. The God of the Universe is your God, your personal God, He is giving you His full, undivided attention every second of every hour of every day for your entire life. What can be more special than that? Like Andy, if someone shows you little or no respect, you can just sit back and yawn, because you know you are special to God and that is all that counts.
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