Which One Are You?
Peter was a racehorse. Every story we have of him in the Gospels shows the same pattern. He is moving before the rest of the disciples even know what happened. He is stepping out of the boat onto the water before anyone else considers it, drawing a sword in the garden to cut off Malchus’s ear or when he is promising to die for Christ hours before he denies Him three times.
Peter loved the Lord. Nobody would ever question that. But Peter had one problem the Lord had to keep dealing with:
He ran ahead and moved on impulse!
Then you have Jonah. If Peter was the racehorse, Jonah was the mule. God told him to go to Nineveh and he went the opposite direction.
God had to send a storm to stop the ship, then a whale to swallow him and three days in the belly of that whale to break him. And even after all of that, when he finally got to Nineveh and the whole city repented, he sat under a gourd angry that God had spared them.
Jonah loved God too. But he had to be dragged every step of the way. He needed to be pushed, prodded, and even forced.
Psalm 32:8-9 “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.”
God gives us a picture with two animals and one servant.
The horse rushes ahead. Charges forward on its own impulses so it must be held back.
The mule refuses to move. Digs in and has to be pushed forward.
Neither one has understanding. Both need a bit and bridle, while neither one is what God actually wants.
What God wants is the servant.
The Horse Christian
If you are like Peter, you are already moving.
• You do not have to be talked into serving the Lord.
• You do not have to be convinced to try something for God.
• You see a need and charge at it.
• You feel a burden and you act on it immediately.
That is not all bad. Peter was the one who preached at Pentecost when three thousand souls got saved in one day. God can do amazing things with a Christian who is willing to move.
But the horse has to be held back. Because the horse does not always run in the direction God is going. The horse runs where the horse feels like running.
A horse Christian can:
• Start ministries God never told him to start.
• He will make decisions before he prays about them.
• He will speak up when God wanted him quiet.
• He will act on emotion and call it faith.
• And when the momentum finally slows down, he looks around and realizes he is not sure the Lord ever asked him to go where he ended up.
The horse needs the bit because God is trying to teach him to move in step, not ahead.
The Mule Christian
If you are like Jonah, you feel the exact opposite pull. You hear God clearly, you know what He is asking and your first instinct is to sit down and refuse.
Often, it’s not because you do not love the Lord. You do! But because what He is asking scares you. Or feels too hard, costs too much, requires you to do something you do not want to do. So you dig in and look for reasons to avoid. You find excuses and wait for a better time. You wait for God to change His mind.
Jonah ran the opposite direction. He got on a ship going the other way and paid the fare himself. The mule Christian is not passive, because he is actively refusing.
And the mule has to be pushed. God rearranges the mule’s life until moving forward becomes the only option left. And even then, the mule can end up in Nineveh sitting under a gourd, angry that he obeyed at all.
The mule needs the bridle because God is trying to move him where love should have carried him already.
Which One I Am?
I am the horse. And if I had to pick, I would rather be the horse. I would rather be a Christian someone has to pull back than one who has to be pushed forward.
But that is not really the choice. The choice is not horse or mule because both need the bit. Both are missing understanding.
The choice is animal or servant.
The Servant Guided By The Eye
Read the first part of the verse one more time:
Psalm 32:8 “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.”
Before God warns us about the horse and the mule, He tells us He wants a servant close enough to be guided by His eye.
In the Bible, the master could direct his servant with just a look. A nod or glance would be easy to see if in eye shot. But the servant had to be close enough and attentive enough to catch it. A servant across the room could not be guided by the eye. Only the one standing right next to the master.
That is what God wants for us. Not a race horse or a stubborn mule. He desires a servant in step with the Master, watching His face.
God gives us three practical ways He does this.
1. His instruction.
God teaches us through His Word. Every time we open the Bible, He is instructing us by telling us the way we should go and showing us where the path is. If we are not in the Word, we are missing the first way He guides us.
2. His teaching.
God teaches us through people He puts in our lives. A faithful pastor, a godly mentor, or a youth pastor, a parent who walked with the Lord. A friend who knows the Bible and is willing to tell us a hard truth. God teaches us through the counsel of those who have walked the road before.
3. His guidance.
God guides us through the still small voice of the Holy Ghost. We gain peace through prayer and if we are close enough to catch His eye, we will feel His promptings clearly.
The Bit And Bridle Are Mercy
If we will not be guided by the eye, God does not give up on us. He simply will change His method. The bit goes in and the bridle comes on. Correction, chastening, storms, and consequences replace the gentle voice.
That sounds harsh, but it is actually love. Because God’s chastening is designed to bring us near and it’s the whole reason for the bit and bridle in Psalm 32:9 is written at the end of the verse: “lest they come near unto thee.”
The correction is for nearness. Every hard thing God allows in a horse Christian’s life is His hand slowing him down so he will draw close. Every push a mule Christian feels is God’s hand refusing to let him drift away from where he belongs.
The bit hurts, but the point of the bit is not the pain. The point is the nearness.
Which One Are You?
Are you the horse? Charging ahead of God, running on emotion, needing to be pulled back?
Are you the mule? Digging in, refusing to move, needing to be pushed?
Or are you learning to be the servant? Walking close, watching His face, guided by His eye?
