BROKENNESS

THE PICTURE of brokenness is of a wild stallion that wants its independence. It does not want to be ridden; it does not want to be told what to do. Now, it doesn’t mind the cowboy feeding it or keeping the trough full of water. It doesn’t mind having a place to go into out of the rain. It just doesn’t want anyone to get on its back. But the process of breaking a stallion or breaking a wild horse involves the cowboy getting on its back and riding it. The stallion usually bucks and bucks and tries to throw the cowboy off.

“Get off my back!”

“Bless me with the food. Bless me with the water. Bless me with a covering. But don’t get on my back!”

The cowboy gets on the back of the horse and rides it out. Sometime he’s thrown off, but if the goal is the breaking, he rides that wild horse until it yields. How do you know when a horse has been broken? It doesn’t lose its strength; it doesn’t lose the muscles in its legs. It does not lose its God-given uniqueness and identity as a horse. It’s just now a horse under somebody else’s control.

Many of us want the blessings from God, but we don’t want Him riding us and bringing us into submission to His will.55

[Blessing; Submission]

James 4:7