As a younger man I trained horses professionally. I so enjoyed taking young horses that had never been ridden and teaching them to become responsive to the most subtle cues. The slightest pressure applied via the reins or pressure from my leg, and the horse would respond by adjusting its speed, cadence, collection, etc. When a horse yields to the pressure, you release it — a form of reward.
Like people, each horse has its own personality, and some take more time and repetition to respond to pressure.
Some horses became very obedient and polished, which made them good show horses. They were a pleasure to ride.
Some horses were extremely stubborn. They refused to yield to pressure and would just get frustrated and fight it. They did not want to be submissive. Those horses took more time and patience, and some never turned out to be good pleasure horses.
Reflecting on my experience training horses, I see clear applications to the training of our souls. Every human being since the Fall of the first two comes into this world with a propensity toward rebellion against our Creator God. We want to be in charge. We do not want to be submissive to His will. This is the essence of sin.
From the beginning, God has made clear that sin is a problem (our biggest) and that it must be dealt with. Sin is what led to death and all the pain and suffering in this world — which can bring extreme pressures.
Left in our sin, there would be no hope for a life with God after death. That’s the bad news, but the good news is that God provided the solution to the problem in sending His perfect Son, Jesus the Christ, to take away our sin and the eternal death sentence it deserved.
What does this have to do with training horses? We must submit ourselves to the Lord and His plan to save us. We receive the free gift of God, forgiveness from sin and eternal life, by yielding our will to His, by agreeing with Him about our sinful condition and His ability to save.
Subsequently, we receive the Holy Spirit, who is the trainer of our souls. He works within us to “transform us into the same image [as the Lord] from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). This is our God’s great aim for His glory and our good (Romans 8:28-30).
Therefore, our God allows various trials in our lives (i.e., pressures) and the indwelling Spirit applies good pressure to train us to become more like Jesus in our character. Our response should be willful submission and acceptance of the pressures that He brings, knowing that they are “light and momentary” compared to the “eternal weight of glory” being prepared for us.
That is the right perspective on the pressures of this life, and I am not horsing around.
Brett Crump is senior pastor of New Palestine Bible Church (newpalestinebiblechurch.com). This weekly column is written by local clergy members.
