Were You Ever Forced

Have you ever been forced to do something. Didn't you lose respect for the person that took your free will away?

Today... I watched my friend "chase" a horse all around a big pasture in order to get it out of the pasture to be worked. Now... she could have gotten a bucket of grain... and bribed it, she could have scared it into the corner... but she didn't. She instead kept it's feet moving until IT decided to join up. The trainer simply made the wrong thing hard and the right thing easy. Eventually the horse got it. The trainer had immense patience. But in the long run, it's better than the horse only doing things out of fear or rewards.

So I came home and ended up having to do the same thing with Blaze. We haven't worked together much this summer... and he was hesitant to give up his lazy freedom. Eventually he got the point too... and just decided it was easier to follow me than to have me constantly making his feet move.

So I came inside, took a shower and had God time. I read a little in Mark and then God put Philemon in my mind. I initially thought "ah.... nah... I don't need to read that... I basically know what it says". But God said... read it anyway...

And what stuck out?

"But I didn't want to do anything without your consent. I wanted you to help because you were willing, not because you were forced." Philemon 14

I believe most the time that's how God deals with us too. He doesn't say "If you go on this Mission trip I will give you a beautiful convertible when you come back!! Come on... just go and I will even give you a new house!!!!" He doesn't bribe. Nor does he say... "If you don't give that widow money I'm gonna smack you into next year!!!!!!!!!!" He doesn't get us to move with fear. There is somewhere in between where He works.... if anything... He makes the wrong thing harder and the right thing easier.

So if you are wondering where God is in your life... maybe you need to be willing to join up with Him. Maybe He has been keeping your feet moving. But ultimately, it needs to be your choice.

A fearful horse is a wreck, as is a spoiled horse. But a willing horse is a beauty.