Yesterday in the #CornerstoneVerseOfTheDay we talked about going through the deep waters and how when we are walking in obedience, we need only to wait on the Lord to fight for us and be still and silent (Exodus 14:14). Just last week I was talking with one of our #CornerstoneFellowshipMinistry volunteers who was working with a horse. He was not responding how we were wanting so I told her to put more boundaries on him to make him look for the right answer. That did the trick.
The Lord does the same for us. Do you know why He has given us so many "rules" to follow? It is not to lord over us, but to help us live the right way, according to His design. When we have those boundaries, we can think and act in the way of the Spirit with self-control, or as I prefer to translate, sober-mindedness (Galatians 5:23). When this horse responded without boundaries he just ran around and attempted to get away from the pressure rather than yielding. I see people doing the same thing. When they respond in this world it is not with self-discipline or sober-mindedness, but just reaction. Once we decide to live by the Spirit we stop and think.
When we are faced with decisions in life we must respond according to the Lord's will, both His general will and His personal will for our lives. When we are patient in our thinking and our responding we do not react as much as respond to the Lord and yield to his will, in the same way we were looking for this horse to yield to us, for his benefit. We have been working with him with ropes around his feet, not to pull a foot away, but to teach him to no longer panic, but trust and yield to the pressure. This is beneficial because if we are out riding and he would get caught up in some branches, or worse, hidden wire, we don't want him to panic and react but to gently and quietly listen to our guidance to get him out. This keeps everyone from getting hurt.
This is how the Lord wants us to get through life so we do not get hurt, nor hurt others either. If we would live according to the Lord's way there would be much less pain and heartache in the world. This is why the Lord desires obedience, for our benefit. This takes patience and courage because the world will not understand this at all.