If you don’t know, the cow isn’t supposed to lay down! This crazy cow got in the chute and laid down! Everything works better, especially breeding when the cow doesn’t lay down in the chute!
Thankfully, on this particular day, we worked the cattle and everything went according to plan…..this time!
But, standing there drawing up meds, when she laid down, I immediately knew I had to take a picture. The verse “Eli was laid down in his place” was ringing in my ears. When this particular cow came through the shoot two weeks later, she laid down again!
A few days after I took this picture, we had a tree fall down on a fence. I had the same thought. “Eli was laid down in his place.” Trees are better off standing and for certain they don’t belong laying on the fence allowing cows out!
In 1 Samuel chapter 3, Eli was the priest of the time. But the Bible plainly calls out that he had laid down in his place and that his eyes had grown dim. Some will consider this as a statement that he had gotten older, maybe he was tired, and his vision was failing with age. But others will look at this spiritually.
Eli had gotten complacent and lazy. He had stopped doing the things that he had done early in his life that brought him to the place of the priesthood. He had laid down in his place. He failed to see things that needed to be addressed spiritually and his sons had brought shame upon Eli and the priesthood. All of this, brought wrath and punishment upon him and his sons. It also brought Eli to the place where he couldn’t hear the voice of God calling Samuel.
Recently, the discussions in our house have been around things that were done in the past. We have talked about how people used to pray all night or churches had prayer meetings that went late into the night. We remember when a child was sick, you didn’t rush to the urgent care, you called for the elders of the church or had a prayer chain started.
People used to fast more. Prayer requests were taken during the church service and time was spent praying about those needs. Often now, we don’t see the gifts of the Spirit moving in our churches and we rarely see the miraculous and supernatural.
Could it be that we, like that cow, are no longer standing, but we have laid down in our place? Are we praying for Him to move in our churches? Are we fasting and praying for our pastors and church leaders? Do we persist in our prayers when the answer isn’t microwave fast? Do we linger at church in worship and prayer or do we hurry through the program so that we can check the box?
Just like husband prods the cow to get up, maybe we need prodding to stand back up in our place? I feel prodded today. I am jolted by His spirit; that cattle prod has encouraged me to get going!
I am standing back up! I am going back to some things forgotten and persisting in my prayers. Will you join me? Let’s get up and GO! Let’s stand UP!
