I had a really unusual experience the other day. I
was driving down a two lane country highway at a pretty good clip when I noticed
the car ahead of me swerve over into the left lane. He drove there for a little
way and then back into the right lane. I slowed down a bit and saw the reason
for it There was the most beautiful little horse-not a pony but a very tiny
horse and it was running along the side of the road at top speed looking scared
to death. I will never forget the look on its face.
Someone’s prize horse had a yearning for freedom and had left his place of
confinement only to find himself in great danger. Fortunately there were no cars
coming toward me because I had to get into the left lane to avoid hitting him.
The little horse kept running and glancing sideways at my big red Buick that
spelled danger to him. He was definitely “running scared”.
I was so afraid he would run out in front of me. I was almost in a panic for his
safety. I really wanted to get out and catch him and calm him down. What a sight
that would have been to see an elderly lady, who can only walk fast when she is
going down a ramp, trying to catch a horse that was running at top speed.
I finally eased around him while wondering who he belonged to and what was going
to happen to him. I wished he would use his “horse sense’ and run out into the
field that we were passing instead of running down the highway. He had obviously
not been content with his owner’s provision and protection and was looking for
freedom in the wrong place.
When we refer to “using our horse sense”, we usually are referring to being
mature and rational. He was obviously not mature and no one really knows what
goes through the mind of a horse. It seems his only thoughts were the danger of
the moment so he just ran as fast as he could. If he could think rationally he
too, like the young boy in the Bible who left home because he craved freedom,
would have realized that home wasn’t so bad after all. We are in some ways like
horses. When we see danger it awakens something inside us and makes us want to
run.
Horses are born to run and that is what they do best. God put the fantastic
running gear in horses for a reason. Horses play an important role in the plan
of God in the Bible. They are mentioned at least eighty three times.
This one was face to face with unfamiliar fast moving objects that he could not
outrun, He needed help and I prayed that somehow he would be safe. I had only
passed him a little ways when I saw help was on the way to him. I smiled as I
thought of how much like people this situation was and how often we do not use
our God given, “horse sense”.
It reminds me of a couple of men in the Bible who were running scared. One was a
preacher running from a painted lady that was out to get his hide. The other was
running scared from an angry brother who hatred him and, wanted to kill him.
Both were no doubt looking back over their shoulder to make sure they were
outdistancing the danger of those bent on revenge and who, given the
opportunity, would carry out their evil plans.
Those two, Elijah and Jacob, were kind of like the little horse. They both felt
the need to run away from danger. They soon learned that, apart from the help of
God, they could not outrun the trouble they were in. It was only when they
stopped running that they found the peace that God alone provides.
Elijah found the answer in a cave where he laid down to sleep, when he could run
no farther. The still small voice of God spoke to him there. Jacob found comfort
when he stopped running for the night and laid down to sleep with only a rock
for a pillow. God spoke to him in a dream filled with beauty and great promise.
As a result of their encounters with God, their faith was strengthened and they
found the courage needed to stop running and get on with their lives.
I know that one day big red Buicks will no longer scare little horses. The hate
of wicked- painted ladies will no longer frighten preachers. Hatred will no
longer come between brothers. Wolves will frolic with lambs, Lions will eat
grass like and ox and fear will take a back seat when God is at the controls.
Until then, run little horse, in the fields and Meadows and be safe. The God,
who sees the sparrow fall, is watching over you too.
Carolyn Young jcklr1@gmail.com
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