Have you ever seen a wild horse being trained to accept a bit and bridle? I’ve never seen it in person but have watched documentaries and I can see how hard it is. From the horse’s viewpoint he’s loosing his freedom and rebelliously resists. I can understand that. On the other hand, life is going to be much better when he finally submits. He can trade in his stubbornness for a better kind of freedom but it takes some convincing.

Some people are just like wild horses. They pull and strain and buck and resist every attempt to rein them in. “Nobody’s going to tell me what to do!” “Stop bossing me around!” “Don’t fence me in!” they shout.

I feel a little sorry for those who have never learned how to submit to authority. If freedom is the goal why aren’t they happier about it? They seem to thrash about and run themselves to exhaustion. And never a moment’s peace.

God has a different path to real freedom. Incredibly, it comes through submission. He asks us to accept the bit and bridle of rightful authority so we can be guided to the best pasturelands. It’s there we can rest with security and peace.

If you feel like being rebellious remember this: “Therefore he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.” (Romans 13:2)