Every day when Ken takes me home from work, I love looking at the horses.
Hi, I'm Joni Eareckson Tada and you’ve probably heard me say this before on the program how Ken and I often avoid taking the freeway home and choose the longer, slower way to our house through the mountains of Malibu Canyon. I think I’ve told you that every day he slows down by the white fences of a horse farm where we so enjoy looking at the mares and foals. One of them is a beautiful little sorrel colt with a white blaze and two white socks – he looks just like a horse my sister Kathy used to own.
Kathy owned a quarter-horse named Casey Reds – and only Kathy could ride him. I remember once getting on his back, but he never performed very well with me in the saddle. You see, although Reds was a beautiful sorrel gelding, he had been abused as a colt. I don’t know what his former owners had done to him, but they abandoned him to the livestock auction house right off of Route 40 near our farm. That’s where Kathy found him. He was young, shy and skittish, but Kathy could see something in his eyes. When my sister rode Reds on the trails in the state park behind our farm, she often would put racing blinders on him – that’s how frightened he was of any movement to his side, anything that would suddenly happen on the trail. Although Casey Reds was just a horse, you could detect sadness in his eyes. He had lost his spirit. But he sure did love my sister.
Psalm 32:9 says, “Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle.” A lot of people are like Casey Reds. They have no understanding about what they’ve suffered through or why; and without understanding, there is great sadness in their lives. Maybe they’ve suffered abuse at the hands of others and they are shy around people. And maybe like my sister’s horse, they would just rather live with blinders on and not have to deal with frightening situations.
Well, the heart of God breaks when he sees us put blinders on, like horses with spirits broken. He never intended that we should live lives of solemn resignation. Maybe horses can resign themselves to a life of sadness, but not humans. We are not animals. Our souls are too significant. We bear the image of God. And II Timothy chapter one says, “God did not give us a spirit of timidity.” Maybe animals live with fear, but God does not give us a spirit of fear. He wants his followers to understand something important about life eternal, grace overflowing, healing assured, contentment given, peace promised, hope everlasting, and joy that can surely brighten any countenance.
So friend are you feeling timid and fearful today, or shy? Proverbs 2 says, “[Turn] your ear to wisdom and [apply] your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.” The word “understand” is repeated three times in that verse. “Cry aloud for understanding” and ask God to show you his wisdom regarding the sad things that have happened in the past. God doesn’t want you to live a life of solemn resignation. There’s a point. There’s a purpose. Take off the blinders, apply your heart to understanding... and let God heal your broken spirit. And if you need prayer, please, you can always let me know on our radio page at joniandfriends.org. Because with God, healing is assured and peace is promised; contentment is within reach, and friend I tell you joy can be yours.
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