It is good for a man that he bear the yoke [of divine disciplinary dealings] in his youth (Lamentations 3:27, The Amplified Bible).
Some years ago, my daughters and I were returning from a trail ride with our friend Bill. He was driving the truck, pulling a trailer full of horses down a well-travelled gravel road in rural Alberta. As we chatted, he suddenly interrupted: “What’s that coming?” Squinting straight ahead into the distance, we saw a runaway horse. “I hope there hasn’t been a wreck,” said Bill.
As the horse drew nearer, we could see that there was no saddle; he wore only a halter, dragging a lead shank. Now everything happened quickly. The horse was almost upon us as Bill threw on the brakes and we all grabbed for our respective door handles. The runaway was already abreast of us as Bill got his head and shoulders out his door.
“Easy, boy,” he called in a loud but soothing voice. Sensing kindness and the presence of our horses in the trailer, the horse checked his speed drastically. By the time he reached the back of the trailer, Melissa, thirteen years old, had bailed out the opposite side of the truck and run around to the back, calling to him. He came straight to her and buried his nose pathetically in her neck.
Now that he was stationary, we could see the damage. His hooves had been grotesquely overgrown; now, after his mad flight (we later learned he’d run five miles) they were horribly broken up—on one forefoot, up above the frog itself. Once stopped, he could no longer put weight on it. He was badly gashed up on the poll, and blood was streaming down behind his ears, soaking his mane and the halter. Likewise, blood was flowing from some angry cuts on his face. Frothy foam lathered his chest and flanks. He stood now, as meek and tame as a lamb, trembling all over. He was a beautiful animal, dark bay with black mane and tail, a couple of dazzling white stockings, and a large diamond on his forehead. Not too tall, but with a deep chest and a thick powerful neck, his shiny coat glistening with sweat, he was a handsome but now terribly battered prize.
It wasn’t long before a truck drove up. We learned that this man had just bought him and had had a difficult time loading him into his trailer. He had resorted to some tough and clumsy measures. Once back at his own place, he’d unloaded, and the horse had bolted.
The original owners had raised the horse in the backyard as a family pet. He’d been loved and doted upon for five years but never trained or disciplined. And here is where the problem came: this animal was in no way prepared to enter the “real” world. In the words on his new owner, he didn’t “know nothin’.”
There are people like that, that life brings across our path. Maybe they’ve had the soft side of love, but no structure and discipline to form their character. As they come of age, they enter the real world unprepared for the harshness it can bring, and their response is to fight and strike out against the pressures, demands, and restrictions that naturally come. We’ll see them coming toward us, a wreck just waiting to happen, or a runaway carrying the pain of some hard knocks.
If we’re not alert and willing, or if our own schedules and agendas are too important, we won’t even put our foot on the brake to stop and speak a kindly word. If we do, we may find that even the wildest-looking one will pause in his headlong flight and figuratively bury his face in our neck, as the love of God speaks a familiar note to his soul. And God will help us to see past the damage of hard knocks and the ravages of bad choices, to see the beauty that was there and which will be restored when healing comes. But it may be, too, that the present master will claim him back for the time being, and he will walk (or limp) back out of our lives. The master who leads him away may not be kind, and with a wistful heart we must entrust him to God.
We prayed for that horse as we climbed back into the truck. Melissa was in tears as we drove away.
It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes (Psalm 119:71, KJV).
