Your Leader Has Not Left You

Your Leader Has Not Left You 

Not too long ago I wrote a post about our 3 dogs titled "Are you Following the Right Leader?"  https://thankful-julie.blogspot.com/search?q=follow Here are two paragraphs from that post:

"In December 2018 we adopted a six-year-old German Shepherd from the Humane Society. We named him Dresden. In May 2020 we purchased two puppies to keep him company. We named them Sierra and Jubilee. Since the first day they arrived, the three of them have been a tightly bonded trio, and the puppies took to Dresden as their surrogate father.  For the past five years the younger two follow Dresden's examples in deciding when to eat, when to go outside, when to come back in, where they sleep, etc.  This morning, as I watched them imitating their leader's behaviors, the idea for this blog came to me.  I started thinking about how the puppies emulate all Dresden does because of their great love for him and his love, gentleness, and care for them.  They even respect his discipline and never show anger when he "scolds" them but continue to show him love. The puppies honor and respect Dresden as the leader of their small pack and have never tried to usurp his role as alpha."

"How many of us can say the same for the One we claim to be the leader of our souls?  Do we fight for dominance over the will of Jesus and refuse to respect and honor the rules of the Bible? Do we get angry when He tells us we need to change a certain behavior?  Or do we do our best to emulate the person Jesus is and strive for holiness for a God that is ever-present?"

Well, very sadly Dresden died on September 1, 2025.  My husband and I miss him dearly, but so do his "puppies," especially Jubilee.  She had been so used to making decisions based on what Dresden did.  Without Dresden's examples, she has to be reminded to eat and drink, which bed to sleep on, and hesitates to go out of the house because her leader is not showing her it is safe to go outdoors.  When it is time to come back in, she looks all over for him, waiting for him to show up.  When prompted to come inside, she eventually comes back but with a heavy sigh, still looking behind for her father figure.  Her grief makes me teary eyed just writing this.

As with the previous blog I wrote about the dogs, I see so much symbolism in Jubilee's hesitation to make any simple decisions.  We have even noticed she seems more timid since Dresden died.  My husband put it this way: She so she trusted Dresden as a safe leader that without him she feels insecure and afraid; her security blanket is gone.

Now I will put this in human terms.  More specifically, Jesus' disciples.  Imagine how lost and confused they must have felt when Jesus died and left.  Even though He had repeatedly told them He would raise from the dead, they still seemed not to have any hope. Here is just one example:

(Matthew 17:22-23) And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.

Yes, it must have been a dark several days after Jesus died because they could not understand that He was going to be raised from the dead.  

Luke 23:48 says that "all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned."  Which means they were in great grief and distress.  Not encouraging one another to find hope that Jesus would be back from the dead in a few days.  

But what joy when Jesus did finally emerge from the tomb, alive!

(Matthew 28:5-6) And the angel answered and said unto the women, "Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for He is risen, as He said."

Yet somehow many were still skeptical. When Mary Magdalene tells them she has seen the risen Christ in Mark 16:9, Mark 16:11 says "when they had heard that He was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not." 

Yet, Jesus does eventually appear to at least 500 people (see 1 Corinthians 15:6), therefore having many witnesses to prove Jesus was indeed alive again!

As joyful as Jesus rising from the dead must have been for His faithful followers, they soon had to say goodbye again as it was time for Jesus to ascend back to Heaven.  Did they weep at this second parting? Maybe, but they were not in deep sorrow as before.  

(Luke 24:51-53) And it came to pass, while [Jesus] blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.   

This says they had great joy and continually praised and worshipped God.  So why did they despair when he died but felt joy when He left again.  What made the difference?  They should have been expecting Jesus to raise from the dead as He had told them He would, but their human minds had trouble grasping that fact.  After seeing Lazarus and others raised from the dead, I am sure there must have been some who had hope and believed in the Power to also raise Jesus from the dead.  Yet, most failed to understand.  Just like most of us, we must see to believe.  His resurrection greatly encouraged them and left them with a renewed hope of seeing Him again either as He returned to earth one last time, or in Heaven when they died.  

Let me go back to where I started.  Are you wondering what my dog Jubilee has to do with all this?  Perhaps it is because I was a preacher's kid and like my late dad used to say, "you can find a sermon in anything," that I see a sermon here.  I am not trying to be disrespectful by comparing Jesus and His disciples to dogs, it is simply the way my mind works to see spiritual messages in many different circumstances in my life. 

Just like Jubilee, when we are separated from our leader, we despair and feel fear.  We feel lost and confused about what direction to take.  In the case of the disciples of old, they were not spiritually separated from Jesus, they had not backslidden, they felt grief and missed their beloved Teacher.  Their misunderstanding caused unnecessary turmoil.  

I am taking a long time getting to it, but this message is for modern day disciples who once found hope in Jesus and figuratively sat His feet in Bible study, praise, and prayer.  Then, for whatever reason, chose to backslide away from Him.  Now without Him they are feeling lost and confused.  Not sure what to do.  Not even sure how to get back to Jesus.  Just as with those who walked when Jesus walked, people today allow their misunderstanding to cause unnecessary turmoil.  Blaming God for every bad circumstance in their lives and refusing to see hope and find joy in the midst of pain, to the point where they backslide.    

Here is the great news!  Jesus never left you!  He is always calling you back to Him!  

There are many beautiful passages on Jesus calling backsliders back to Him (see Matthew 18:11-13, Hosea 14:1-9, Revelation 2:4-5, etc.).

You can find hope for the backslider in Jeremiah 3. First acknowledge your sins. It is a beautiful passage of scripture that lets us know that God wants so deeply for us to return to Him (2 Peter 3:9 - The Lord... is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.).

(Jeremiah 3:13-15) "Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God... and ye have not obeyed my voice," saith the Lord. "Turn, O backsliding children," saith the Lord; "for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family... And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding."         

Unlike Jubilee, your Leader is not dead and is very much alive and wants you to once again allow Him to lead your life.  When you go back to following the ways of Jesus Christ, you will again feel peace and joy! 

You can read more on this topic in my blog "Hope for the Backslider" here: https://thankful-julie.blogspot.com/2025/07/hosea-141-9-hope-for-backslider.html