Teach Me Thy Way, By Chaplain Skeeter Spaulding

Monthly Devotional

By Chaplain Skeeter Spaulding, Redeemed Riders Chapter

Teach Me Thy Way

I’m just amazed at how much the truth of the Bible applies to any circumstance that we have going on in our lives. If we make a regular habit of reading our Bibles every day, we just can’t help but find those gold nuggets of truth that apply to each of us. It’s like an old-timey prospector with his burro camped out along a high mountain stream working his stake. He’s panning for gold and carefully keeping his eye out for the precious glimmer that he’s after. “There’s gold in them there hills,” as the old saying goes.

I found in Psalm 27:11 something that I thought applied to an experience that I had while on a trail ride. But honestly, it sure could apply to the need to be in control of any situation that we should trust to our Heavenly Father’s care. Psalm 27:11 reads, “Teach me Thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.” The “enemies” stated here were people who certainly didn’t have King David’s best interest in mind. It could also be anything that we are dealing with that looks or feels like an enemy to us where we need wisdom to handle it.

I have been in one of those circumstances where I had been holding the reins too tight due to some fear; therefore my horse had limited head mobility. A horse obviously needs to “have its head” to see its way through a difficult place on the trail. Have you likewise ever been in a scary situation in your life and felt the need to be in control? We do that so we can feel safe. We often think it’s ALL up to ourselves to get through a difficult place. “Pull yourself up by the bootstraps” is one phrase; “you got yourself into this, so you can just get yourself out” is another.

I was out at my friend Dave’s place some years ago. We saddled up two of his mares and struck out on the trail for a few hours. We encountered some overgrown brush along the way and went to our right side of it as we made our way up the trail. It was nothing that the horses could not maneuver through. It was a pretty place to ride as we made our way to the top of this long sloping wooded hill. After reaching the stopping point at the top of our climb, we rested the horses for a little bit before heading back. Dave let me take the lead going back since he likes to switch up his horses leading and following. He says that it makes them a more balanced horse and teaches them patience. Nearly everything that I knew about horsemanship at the time I had learned from Dave – and that day would prove no different.

When we got back to the overgrown portion of the trail, we chose to go around the more difficult side this time. It gave the horses a challenging terrain to work through. It was the steeper side of the trail for us and thicker brush. At this point, I was not sure which direction to take once my horse and I started making our way through. Dave gave me some advice that made all the difference in the middle of the web of tangled brush. I can still hear him like it was yesterday: “Loosen up on those reins so she can have her head; she can pick her way through this better than you can. You just keep your focus toward the trail and let her do the work.” That’s exactly how it all worked out because I got back up on the trail with minimal rein management.

I learned something that day that I thought was very important. The lesson was this: If I let go of all the control and keep my focus on the trail, then my body language will follow. My horse will therefore know what my intentions are and take me where I want to go.

Hmm, in how many other aspects of life should I apply this principle? When I am in a tight spot in my life, I should let go of all the control and keep my focus on my Heavenly Father. Then my behavior will follow as I continue to stay humble. He will guide me in His way out of the mess. I just need to trust Him in a similar fashion like I learned to trust my horse that day.

I guess the question that we need to ask ourselves is this: Do we trust our Heavenly Father in a tight spot? It could be a situation that was not of our doing, or fully a result of our own doing. Yet we can still trust the Father to get us back on His trail if we focus on Him. Stay steady in reading the Bible and ride this trail of life with trusted brothers and sisters.