Posts Tagged: human horses
DTEB, “The Rider or the Horse?”
“Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
or it will not stay near you.”
(Psalm 32:9 The Holy Bible, English Standard Version,
I’ve never been much of a horseman—except in my mind. In my early horse-riding days, the horse would decide to go one direction, and I would go the other. It was a mutual decision to part company, I suspect.
However, in my affirmation this morning, I used an equestrian metaphor. Here is my affirmation:
“Today, by God’s grace, I am allowing God to have free rein in my life. God knows what I need to do and be far better than I know.”
Before I sent this affirmation to my sponsors, I decided to make sure that I was using the term correctly. Is it free “rein” or free “reign”, for one thing”
It is often spelled free “reign”, but this is incorrect. It is not a regal expression. It is indeed an equestrian expression.
So far, so good. I haven’t fallen off the semantic horse yet!
But one of my sponsors sent me a reply that caused me to dig a bit deeper. He wrote, “A horse is a very graceful and trustworthy animal. A horse will follow its path home.”
My reply to his email was, “A good horse will. I am slowly becoming a good horse.”
However, the more I’ve thought about it, the more inappropriate my affirmation has become. The horse does not “give free rein” to the rider. No! The rider may (or may not) “give free rein” to the horse. So, in the strictest sense of the expression, “to allow God to have free rein in my life” makes me the rider and God the horse. I’m not so sure that is a good analogy for my relationship with God.
Psalm 32:9 states that God does not want us to be a like a horse that requires a bit and a bridle. Apparently, God wants to be able to direct us without such tack.
Now the very fact that the psalmist—and God—speak to us in this manner suggests that we do often need a bit and bridle. Any time that my wife says to me, “Don’t be like that!” it is because I am, in fact, being “like that.”
But God does not want it to be so. God wants us to be so well trained that God can give us free rein.
Oh God, please love me into the kind of human horse you want me to be!
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
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- “The Process in Miracles and the Miracle of Process” March 11, 2024“2 Kings 5:1 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. 2 Now the Syrians on one of their raids […]
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- “Endurance” March 10, 2024“For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.” (Hebrews 10:36, English Standard Version) “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us […]
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- “Delighting in Being Told What to Do?!?” February 23, 2024“Psa. 112:1 Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments! 2 His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. 3 Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures […]
- “Character is the Real Lesson” January 19, 2024I am often confused about what lesson I’m really supposed to be learning. For example, this morning I was trying to knock out several Spanish lessons. My intentions were a lot better than my internet connection. I’ve done three lessons. Or rather, I’ve done two lessons. One of them I did twice because the internet […]
- “The Year of Becoming Un-Planked” January 1, 2024Each year, I try to come up with one word or a short phrase for what I intend to work on in the upcoming year. 2024 is “The Year of Becoming Un-Planked”. What?!! What does that even mean? So glad that you asked! Jesus said to his disciples, “Why do you look at the speck […]
- “Searching for the Noble One” December 26, 2023My wife and I were reading Luke, chapter 2 on Christmas Day. Luke 2 talks about the shepherds being told to look for this very special child—in fact, this King—in a stable. I prefer the word “barn”. I grew up on a farm. I know what a barn is. A stable is entirely too biblical […]
- “That Don’t Impress God Much” December 14, 2023DTEB, “That Don’t Impress God Much” “That Don’t Impress Me Much” (Song by Robert John Lange and Shania Twain) Micah 6:8 (MSG) “But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be […]
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