No More Bucking Against God’s Control
By Jessica Brodie
I’m no horse expert, but for many years I was obsessed with horses—horse movies, horse books, horseback riding at summer camp, you name it. I remember poring over descriptions of how horses were trained to accept the bit and bridle, something they would initially buck against, but eventually (usually) come to accept, along with a saddle and a human rider in control.
As a confident, independent-minded young woman, I could relate to the horse’s strong desire not to be controlled. They wanted to run wild and free racing across the prairie, not saddled with some silly person and forced to do their bidding.
I felt much the same—I counted the days until I was 18 and a legal adult, able to do what I wanted to do. I couldn’t wait to have my own house, my own car, my own life. The taste of freedom was a powerful lure. I wanted to be “in charge,” wanted to make my own decisions about everything.
Now I have teenagers struggling with their own cravings for independence, and I completely empathize with what my mom must have experienced. Raising teens isn’t for the faint of heart! But that craving for independence is actually a good thing, signifying healthy, normal progression in the life of a child. Kids can’t depend on Mom forever. Eventually they need to grow up and become adults.
However, while it’s important for children to discover who they are and develop their own independence in society and in their family dynamic, when it comes to God, independence has no place.
While we call God “Father,” this is the one relationship where we are supposed to remain in full dependence—forever.
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God created us to live in relationship with Him. We are part of Him, designed by Him, and thrive when we live in harmony and dependence upon Him. Only God can rescue us. Only God can solve all our problems. We might want to disobey God, but God knows best—now and always. We’ll never get to be God’s equal, never have the power or authority to do anything God can do.
God will always have authority over us. We can fight it, rail against it, kick and scream all we want, run to the ends of the earth if we desire, but it won’t change. He gave us life, and He can take away that life anytime He wishes.
As they say, “Resistance is futile.”
Dependence can be viewed as a sign of weakness. But when it comes to our relationship with God, depending on God leads to about strength. God makes us strong with His power. As the apostle Paul writes in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.”
And God is in command! He’s the Big Boss, the Alpha and Omega, the Creator, the One who made the entire universe.
Lest we forget, from Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV, “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.’”Or from John 15:4-5, “Remain in Me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.”
As we are reminded in Ecclesiastes 3:11, God “has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
And in Colossians 1:16, “For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him.”
Horses can buck all they wish against the bit, bridle, and saddle; teenagers, too, with their parents.
But for me and the Lord? No more. I submit to Him. I surrender completely to His authority. He is my Lord now and forever, and I am His.
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