Beyond Riding Lessons: Understanding Biblical Truths Through Interactions With Horses

By Lisa Finch

But as the animals and they will teach you.

During Jesus's earthly ministry He employed a teaching practice using parables. He told earthly stories and used them as a means of illustrating profound, divine truths. For those who have ears to hear and eyes to see, a parable is a rich way of illustrating the deeper

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Dec 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9798890414823

Lisa Finch

Lisa Finch grew up surrounded by horses and by people who loved Jesus. As a result, she has combined her experiences and knowledge of horses with her understanding of scripture and her walk with Jesus. She is an artist, singer, musician, equestrienne, and retired teacher. She finds great joy in telling stories.

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…beyond riding lessons.

"I will give them a heart to know me,

that I am the Lord."

I grew up in a barnyard. Horses were all around me. I’ve experienced horses from the ground, from the saddle, and sometimes from the air! I’ve had way more experience in the barn than in the kitchen. That’s why I may not be able to tell you how to fix a great dinner for a party of six, but I can pretty much tell you what your horse is thinking, and what he’s probably going to do next. It comes from simply spending time with horses, being in their presence, becoming familiar with their ways.

There are many people who take up horsemanship as a hobby. They have a fondness and an interest in them. Sometimes, they’ll have a friend who has horses, and they’ll spend a little time learning about them there. Or they’ll take it farther and find a good instructor (probably someone who also doesn’t cook…) to teach them about horses. They get some experience riding other people’s horses, learning about them from their instructor. They figure out how to catch the horse and saddle up. They study the different techniques, disciplines, and methods. They go to seminars for advanced knowledge and the newest philosophies on nutrition, health, and horsemanship. These are all very good things and bring a lot of enjoyment. Along the way, they will pick up more understanding of the horse itself. But beyond the seminars and observations, the conversations, and videos, one thing is sure: There is no substitute for simply knowing the animal. Good horsemen know techniques. Great horsemen know horses.

This truth can be applied spiritually as well. Many people know about God, but few people actually really get to know Him, sitting at His feet, learning His ways, listening to His voice. We can certainly glean from the testimonies of others, from the teachings and preachings of great men and women of God, from fellowship with each other as iron sharpens iron. Still, no amount of intellectual activities, teachings, conferences, nor Bible studies can make up for simply knowing God from personal experience. We must have His divine teaching.

It is so important to be still before God, to be free from all distractions and agendas, and simply be with Him in the moment. In fact, he tells us to be still, and know that I am God. (Psalms 46:10, NIV) It’s good to listen to Him, ask Him for His perspective, to feel His heart. As the bride of Christ, the most important thing we can do is to develop intimacy with Him. That’s the place where we will come to know what is acceptable and pleasing to Him, the good and perfect will of God.

I once had a discussion with one of my favorite pastors, Bro. Henry Staggs about the depths of relationship that people had with God. He made a simple statement that some people want more of God than others. I have found that to be true. Some people simply want to know that they are going to heaven. At some point, they accept the story of Jesus and feel that that’s enough. I had a friend once, who told me that he only wanted his toes in the water when it came to his relationship with God. (That sounds pretty shallow to me…) In other words, I want to end up in heaven one day, but without any commitment. I was shocked. I responded by expressing my desire to be thrown into the deep end of the pool without any flotation devices. I’m all in. Take me deeper.

Some people have a thirst for God that cannot be quenched. As David said, As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? (Psalms 42:1-2, NKJV) David developed a heart knowledge of God. Or maybe, a hart knowledge…

But for others, sin has created a type of ignorance and blindness in their minds concerning the things of God, so that they are incapable of searching Him out. Without receiving a new heart from the Lord, a person cannot know or find the true and living God.

When John Kilpatrick was the pastor of a church in Pensacola, he experienced a deep longing in his heart to know God so much more intimately. Although he was very happy with his church and his family and his circumstances, this deep desire for God was so consuming that it left him with an unbearable loneliness, a type of grieving that was so strong that it kept him up at night. He had a deep desire to know God beyond any other desire, beyond anything he had experienced before. It so compelled him that one late night he found himself inside the church, and at three in the morning on the floor, groaning and crying out to the Lord to know him more deeply. His desire to be more intimately acquainted with the Lord was like that of the desire of David when he wrote of his thirst for God. Others in the congregation also began to cry out with him in prayer, asking the Lord for more. As a result of this longing, the great Brownsville revival broke out where the presence of the Lord showed up so powerfully and lives were forever changed. People came from all over the world just to experience the overwhelming presence of God in that place.

The apostle Paul says it this way, "I count everything as loss compared to the priceless privilege and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord {and growing more deeply, and thoroughly acquainted with Him-a joy unequaled}. For His sake, I have lost everything, and consider it all garbage, so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him {believing and relying on Him}, not having any righteousness of my own derived from {my obedience to} the Law and it’s rituals, but {possessing} that {genuine righteousness} which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness, which comes from God on the basis of faith. And this, so that I may know Him, {experientially, becoming more thoroughly acquainted with Him, understanding the remarkable wonder of His Person more completely} and {in that same way experience} the power of His resurrection {which overflows and is active in believers}. (Philippians 3: 8-10, AMP)

Good horsemanship goes beyond riding lessons. Becoming a horse whisperer comes from truly knowing horses. Knowing God goes beyond simply understanding Him as the Bible teaches, that He not only creates, but is perfect in character, and that His goodness is beyond our comprehension. It means that we recognize Him, we have dialogue with Him, and we walk in peace with Him. We must give Him our hearts and listen to Him as He communicates with us like a horse whisperer, because He knows us by name.

So, here’s to the glory of the barnyard.

That I may know Him.

Father, thank You, that You created us to be in a relationship with You and that You went to great expense to bring us to Yourself. Thank You for making relationship possible through the work of Jesus. Thank You, Holy Spirit, for drawing us towards the Father. You love us so much and You desire that we would know You. How incredible that the Creator of the universe wants to be known by us, for what is man that you are mindful of us? Thank You for the incredible privilege of knowing You.

In Jesus’s name. Amen.

Additional Scriptures

I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. (Jeremiah, 24:7, NIV)

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. (1 John 4:7, NIV)

No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

(1 John 3:6, NIV)

No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to another ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest declares the LORD. for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. (Jeremiah 31:34, NIV)

A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked. (Psalms 84:10, NLT)

But let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness justice and righteousness on earth, for in these, I delight," declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 9:24, NIV)

I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.

(Song of songs 6:3, NIV)

2

… charging across the terrain with no steering, and no brakes.

And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

When I was young, my family would sometimes go horse shopping around different locations in South Alabama. There was a horse trader there who always had a barn full of horses for consideration. Going to his barn was a real treat. It seemed that he had an appetite for unusual colors. There were roans, paints, blanketed hips, medicine hats… you name it. I would go from stall to stall peeking over the door to see what I could find. It was like opening boxes at Christmas time. One fine day, we brought home a grullo quarter horse gelding that I had fallen in love with when we visited. I thought that horse was spectacular. I was in my pre-barrel racing days, just a little past the lazy pony stage. I was ready to go fast, and he was a prime candidate for speed.

We had a near death experience one day that really was no one’s fault, except maybe the manufacturer of my bit. I decided to open that horse up in the big field behind my aunt Evelyn’s house. It was 0 to 60 and quite exhilarating, until it was time to stop. As I checked the reins to pull him in, an unheard of thing happened. My bit broke, clean through, each half dangling and flapping in the wind. And since neither of us was skilled at bridle-less riding, in my young mind there was nothing else to do but ride it out.

Now, as I recall the ending (or possibly the embellishment of it) we went under the clothesline, over the picnic table, skidded across the carport and came to a screeching halt, stopping short of slamming into the brick wall. At the sound of all that commotion, my aunt and cousins came running out to see what had befallen me. I’m amused at their recollection of how I calmly dismounted, shrugged my shoulders, and said, My bit broke, like it was no big deal.Well, I may have seemed unruffled on the outside, but that night I relived the situation in a nightmare of a dream!

It all makes a good story after the safe ending, and I still have a hearty chuckle each time I remember it. But the truth is, that horse was charging across the terrain with no steering and no brakes. His temporary, unrestrained freedom kept him running and could have led to his demise and mine.

The dictionary’s definition of freedom is, the power or right to act, speak, or think, as one wants without hindrance or restraint. But sometimes what we might think of as freedom is actually the opposite, and taking the path of unrestrained freedom can actually enslave us. If we take on the perspective that freedom is our right to do whatever we want, whenever and however we want, we might find ourselves, like that unrestrained grullo, headed for a crash.

Bad behaviors start small but grow and become habitual. Wrong ways of thinking will begin to take over and eventually dominate, and our thoughts will determine who we are, what we do, and who we will become. For, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. (Proverbs 23:7) Addictions don’t happen overnight. They are the results of our freedom to choose things that will be harmful to us, over and over again until they become strongholds and habits that seem impossible to break. They have the potential to destroy us and those around us.

Jesus came to show us what true freedom really means. His mission statement, prophesied by the prophet Isaiah, includes setting the captives free. Choosing Jesus is choosing freedom. The real kind of freedom.

God has always intended for us to be free. The misuse of freedom in the garden of Eden led to a captivity that could only be broken through Jesus and His resurrection power. His coming set us free from the penalty of sin and eternal punishment. The deliverance of Israel, out of Egypt and out of slavery was an example of the deliverance that would come to us through Jesus. God’s constant message to pharaoh was, Let my people go and it also demonstrates the spiritual freedom He desires for us to have in Christ. The Mosaic law put many demands on the people of God. Jesus completed the law of Moses, setting them free from rituals and rules that were impossible to keep. Paul says, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:39, ESV)

Most importantly, in Christ, those who are forgiven now have the power to live free from sin, no longer facing a future of eternal punishment. For, "It is for freedom that Christ has