The Guard Dog That Never Had to Bite

In rural Tennessee, a sheep farmer named Dale Hutchins kept a Great Pyrenees named Boaz to guard his flock. For three years, coyotes had picked off lambs at the edges of the pasture — sometimes two or three a week. Dale tried traps, electric fencing, even staying up nights with a rifle. Nothing worked for long.

Then Boaz arrived. The big white dog did something Dale never expected. He didn't chase coyotes. He didn't patrol the fence line looking for a fight. Instead, Boaz planted himself in the middle of the flock and stayed there. He slept among the sheep. He ate near them. He made the flock his home. And when coyotes crept close at dusk, they smelled him before they saw him. They heard that low, steady growl — not frantic, not panicked, just certain. And they turned away. In Boaz's first year, Dale didn't lose a single lamb.

James 4:7 gives us a two-part strategy that mirrors exactly what Boaz did: "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Notice the order. Submission comes first. Boaz didn't go hunting for predators — he stayed close to what he was called to protect. His presence was his resistance.

When we plant ourselves in the middle of God's will — in prayer, in Scripture, in obedience — we don't have to go chasing down every temptation. The enemy catches the scent of a soul submitted to the Almighty, and he turns away. Resistance starts not with clenched fists, but with bent knees.