One of my favorite praise songs is called “Our God Reigns”.
Anyone who know me knows that I love interpretive sign language. As I sing this song and sign it, the sign for reigns shows its significance in my life. The sign consists of holding both hands in front of the body as though loosely holding the reins of a horse. This reminds me of how our Lord, Jesus holds the reins of our lives and gently guides us down the path of His will …IF we let him.
A horse chooses whether to surrender to the lead of the reins. He can fight and pull against the bridle, defying the will of the rider. In fighting he will suffer the pain inflicted by the bridle bit as it cuts into the sides of his mouth and possibly his tongue. The wounds are not life threatening, but they are very painful and get worse with more rebellion. Sound familiar? It does to me.
This horse also has the choice of surrendering to the will of the rider and allowing a gentle tug, even a slight lean of the reins on his neck to guide him and keep him on the path. He finds this surrender to be very pleasant. There is no pain, he avoids pitfalls on the road that he might not have seen or been familiar with. It is easier to pull or carry his load … note that the load is not lifted, it is made easier to bear.
This is, to me, a perfect picture of our lives as Christians. There is no doubt that we have a Rider. There is no doubt that He knows the path ahead. But we must learn to surrender to His guidance if we are to avoid the pitfalls on that path. We must allow that gentle tug or leaning of the reins to let us know when we are straying a bit from the best part of the road. If we surrender to that guidance our life will be much more productive for the Lord. We also will learn so much more because He has the time to teach us wisdom instead of having to spend that time correcting our rebellion.
Just a thought …Who holds your reins?
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus"
Romans 8:1
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