Remembrance of a Dead Coyote

03.31.12

Psalm 49.20 20 Man in his pomp, yet without understanding, is like the beasts that perish. NASB

The other day, while driving out in the wheat-lands of central Oregon, I stopped to make a u-turn and head in the other direction (I wasn’t lost – I was just unsure of where I was…). I got out of the car momentarily and just happened to notice a dead coyote on the ground at the edge of this dirt road I was on. The carcass had been there a while and was pretty well decayed and didn’t have any of its former glory (not that coyotes have that much in the first place). In another few months there won’t be any evidence of it being there at all. That’s like a beast that perishes.

Men seem to share a common trait: they want to make a name for themselves; they want to be remembered. That’s why they aspire to leadership, sports accomplishments, the arts, or other endeavors (like blogging). And so men pursue their pursuits and hope in some measure or another to be successful and to be remembered for being successful…it’s part of being human.

All this week, I have listened to the news about the state of our nation, the issues we face, and of the several individuals who are trying and vying to make a name for themselves in the presidential primaries; hoping to be the one who gets elected this November. The promises are flying, and the resumes are being shown so that they can make the case for them to be the winner. And then, this morning, I read Psalm 49.20: man in his pomp, yet without understanding is like that dead coyote you saw out along that dirt road this week: glory-less.

I am not trying to disrespect anyone or minimize the issues we face but without God we cannot overcome any of them successfully or for any significant length of time. Our nation lacks morality and we cannot get morality without God – and that is precisely the point the sons of Korah were making: man in his pomp, yet without understanding of what he really needs to solve all his problems is no more than a dead coyote. The citizenry cries out for the resurrection of the American Dream but the dream is a nightmare without the presence and power of God. We just don’t seem to get that.

Part of my reading today in the Scriptures took me to Judges 9 and 10. The people of Israel were acting so stupidly because they forsook God that all you can say of them was they were like a bunch of coyotes doomed for death along the side of a dirt road. They felt they didn’t need God and got what they chose as a result: chaos.

The other part of my reading was in 1 Corinthians 16 where Paul told the Corinthians: Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. (Vv. 13,14 NASB) They too had chosen to work things out on their own (see chapter’s 1-15) and were suffering the consequences of that choice. Man in all his pomp, in the family, the city, the state, the nation and the church without understanding (the knowledge of Who God is) is like a dead coyote that has perished alongside a dirt road out in the middle of nowhere.

Yes, I want to be remembered: but I want to be remembered for my steadfastness in the faith and only on the doorstep of heaven where I’ll hear the words of the Almighty say: ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world...' That’s remembrance worth living for.