My uncles have been horsemen nearly all of their lives. They are skilled in breaking and training horses. When I would visit them, we would occasionally go trail riding. I usually ended up with a green broke horse that would sometimes buck or bolt. Unlike my uncles, I was unskilled in riding. It was often a fearful and frustrating experience, but thankfully, I never broke any bones.
The Bible says, “Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you” (Psalm 32:9 NKJV). The 32nd psalm is about David's bridge back to God. He had sinned by committing adultery with Bathsheba, and then tried to cover it up by having her husband, Uriah, killed in battle (2 Samuel 11). For about a year, David kept silent about his sins (Psa. 32:3; 2 Sam. 11:5,27). He was unrepentant and carried a guilty conscience. But then he wrote, “I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the LORD, and You forgave the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm 32:5). When we sin, God offers a bridge back to Him, but we must come back on His terms. God says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye” (Psalm 32:6).
When I would try to ride a green broke horse, it was an exercise of the wills: mine against the horse's. I would pull this way and that with the reins, but sometimes to no avail. When a horse bolted into a run, I would pull back and yell, "Whoa! Whoa!" but he would run until he got tired or when one of my uncles caught him. The horse was likely fearful, as well as stubborn, toward my way of training him. His ignorance made the situation dangerous not only for me, but also for himself, as he could have gotten hurt by falling or running into a fence.
Likewise, we can be like the horse when we are chastened by the Lord. We may be fearful and run away from our responsibility to make the necessary correction regarding our sin. We can become stubborn and refuse to accept responsibility. We can also deceive ourselves by thinking ignorance is bliss. But all of these reactions are foolish and dangerous because forgiveness is only given when we obey God. Therefore, David says, “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; but he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him” (Psalm 32:10).
A repentant David confessed his sin. If you are a Christian, and have fallen back into sin, this is what you must do too. “Repent therefore of this your wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you” (Acts 8:22). “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8,9). David decided to no longer be like a horse and trust in God. He also wrote these encouraging words to all who would follow his obedient example: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit, there is no deceit” (Psalm 32:1,2).
Brotherly, Jamie
