I love horses! They are majestic, intelligent, and faithful animals that are next to an elephant in the never forget department. Those who care for and love these amazing creatures on a daily basis have earned my admiration and respect. Admittedly, my knowledge of horses would be equivalent to a drop in a bucket and, equally as much, my involvement with them; nevertheless, I recall a standard rule for taming a wild horse: break its will but never its spirit.
The most popular term used today is backing as opposed to breaking; however, the term breaking is still used in some circles as a carry over from centuries ago when survival dictated the need to have a horse ready for work. Much haste was done in bringing a horse into submission. One source described that approach as slapping a saddle on a horse’s back, forcing a bit into its mouth, easing into the saddle, and then hanging on for dear life. The result: the horse’s instinct to survive kicks in (no pun intended!). It cannot reason. It cannot think, rationalize, or determine what the advantage would be to have a human riding on it’s back or putting a bit in its mouth. It’s afraid and it fights to survive as it senses a threat to its well being.
Although there are instances when this approach is still used, more often than not, breaking a horse has “evolved from force to persuasion, encouragement and training.”* With the inclusion of patience, a horse’s spirit is not crushed into surrendering but eventually submits willingly. When the animal stops fighting, peace and rest result, and the submission leads to a spirit of trust in its leader. Unless it returns to the wild or some unforeseen circumstance occurs, a horse seldom needs to be broken again.
Are there not times when we act the same way in our relationship with God? In My Utmost for His Highest Oswald Chambers states that, “there are very few crises in life; the great crisis is the surrender of the will.” When it comes to surrendering our will, we resist, we fight, we flee, and we argue with the Almighty. We might even bargain and ask, What will it gain me? In doing so, our willful arrogance and rebellion prevents us from enjoying the peace and rest that comes with submission. But as a loving Father who knows what’s best for us, God waits patiently until we yield. Sometimes He uses circumstances that would not be to our liking to get our attention, but He never presses us to surrender. It must be done voluntarily. Chambers puts it this way, “God never crushes a man’s will into surrender.”
From a religious perspective Wikipedia defines surrender in this way: “Surrender is willful acceptance and yielding to a dominating force.” Two key words: willful and dominating. To surrender our will to God means to stop resisting, fighting, fleeing and arguing with the Almighty and willingly let Christ dominate our lives, abandoning all personal control. To take it further, Chambers states that real abandonment “is [having] a personal sovereign preference of Jesus Christ Himself.” But Chambers cautions us as followers of Christ to be careful we don’t surrender our will with the purpose of gaining something in return. Meaning, if we abandon our will and surrender it to God because we want more back, it is done out of “miserable commercial self-interest.”
Once again God teaches us through His creation. This time we learn what it means to surrender: to abandon our own will and purposefully and completely surrender and submit to our Leader, our King, and our God. A great reminder for all who are followers of Christ.
Psalm 40:8
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*https://www.kentuckyderby.com/horses/news
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