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Stuck on You: A Gorilla Glue Parable May 19, 2008 By Randy
Bailey “My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me” (Psalms 63:8).
My wife
and I were doing some maintenance on our pool to get it ready
for the swimming season. One of the hoses for the automatic pool
vacuum had a crack in it next to the connection piece that attaches
it to the next length of hose. My wife called the pool store and
found out that a six-foot length of hose would cost us $34 dollars.
There was no way I was going to pay that much money for a piece
of hose, so we decided that we would fix it ourselves. I cut the
hose evenly and grabbed a bottle of Gorilla Glue. I carefully
put some down inside the connection piece and slid the hose down
into the glue. The glue set overnight, and I was very impressed
with the way it bonded the two pieces together. We put the hose
in the pool and hooked it up to the vacuum and it worked as good
as new. That glue
is some tough adhesive. We have glued the soles of my wife's running
shoes back on with it, glued wood together, and a few other house
projects. Once this glue sets, it is as strong as cement. Godly Glue “My soul
followeth hard after thee.” The word used here is “dabaq,”
which means properly to cleave to; to adhere; to be glued to;
to stick fast. It also means to attach oneself to anything or
to pursue or follow after. The idea here is that the psalmist
adhered firmly to God, as pieces of wood glued together adhere
to each other; that we, as it were, stuck fast to Him. “Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As
it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long; we
are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things
we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am
persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans
8:35-39). Can you relate? Say it with me, “I am stuck on you, Jesus.”
To be stuck
to Jesus like glue is an awesome analogy. Lord, I am going to
walk close to You each day of my life and allow Your words to
keep me close to Your side. Tough Times, Big God I am sure
we all have experienced times in our lives when we felt like we
were drifting away from Jesus. There are times in my own life
when I felt about as spiritual as a tree stump; yet I had to remind
myself that my faith is not based on emotion. My faith is in God
and His word. He has promised me that He will never leave nor
forsake me and as Psalms 3:8 states, I am stuck on Him like a
strong adhesive. Do I support
the “Once saved, always saved” doctrine? No, I do not. I believe
there is a danger in walking away from God and going back to the
sinful lifestyle. I believe there is judgment for unconfessed
sin, and therefore we need to endure until the end as Jesus stated
in Matthew 10:22. There is a
key word in today's opening scripture that will keep us close
to the Lord and that is “followeth.” The “eth” on the end of the
word means continually, not a one-time experience. We make the
decision to follow Christ every day and obey instructions of His
word. Do you know the voice of your shepherd? His Words are written in the Bible. This is how we hear Him speak. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).
There are
too many obstacles in our life that can cause us to focus our
attention on them. If we are stuck on Jesus, we are walking close
and hearing His voice. I know the dangers of following Him afar
off and how easy it is to get distracted. I have people write
to me from time to time and tell me they are struggling. These
are good people who love God, but for some reason or another they
feel all alone and fear begins to grip their heart as they wonder
if they will ever make it through their valley of death. I remind
them that they are never alone and to get into His word and allow
the Holy Ghost to direct and strengthen them. One of the
biggest mistakes people make is getting a little dry in their
spirit and ceasing to spend time in prayer and in the word of
God. Praise and worship must be part of our life, and prayer accompanied
with God's word will draw us closer to Him. I want to be so close
that I can feel His breath on the back of my neck. I desire to
hear His footsteps as I walk down the narrow path. I believe we
can get to the place where the Psalmist was when he stated that
he was stuck on Jesus like glue. My friend,
there are many things that fight for our attention. If we are
not careful, we will find ourselves drifting like a boat that
has become untied from the pier of life. Get close to the Lord
and He will get close to you. Get so close that you can say, “Lord,
I am stuck on you”. “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh
to you…” (James 4:8). © 2008, Randy
Bailey ---------- Randy Bailey
has been writing spiritual poems/devotions for the past eight
years. Randy has one wife and three sons. Richard, Ryan, and Rodney
are grown and on their own while Randy and Peggy live in Georgia.
Randy and Peggy attend the First United Pentecostal Church of
Warner Robins. Randy has recently had his book Spiritual Snacks
published, and it is available at www.Amazon.com
(plug). Randy loves to throw the seed through his writings. |
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