Sight Unseen

We have two Clydesdales living at His Ranch.  They are a type of draft horse, designed with size and strength for pulling loads.  Ruby is the bigger of the two, and she has been trained to pull a cart.  This is a fun thing for special occasions, such as our fall fundraiser or a parade.  It has been awhile since Ruby has been out with the cart, so Shannon decided to hitch her up and go for a little joyride.  He didn't know that she was going to teach him a valuable lesson as well, but that doesn't surprise Shannon.  He's spent enough time with horses to gain a wealth of wisdom from them and we love it when he shares these insights.  Here is Ruby's lesson, as told by Shannon Haerr.

So every time I hitch Ruby up, I always put the blinders on before the cart.  And I always take the cart off and then take off the blinders.  That's the way I've always done it before, but I forgot this time, and I took the blinders off while the cart was still attached to Ruby.  I realized after the fact that she has never actually seen that scary thing behind her.  When I took the blinders off and she saw what was back there, she freaked out!  All she could think about was getting away from that thing.  The cart is still in running order, but there's some bent bars now!  She was too upset to listen to her master who she trusts, and he got thrown around a bit too.  Up until now, Ruby really had no idea what was behind her.  She couldn't get away from it, but as long as she was wearing the blinders and couldn't see it, she learned to trust her master and listen to his voice, and everything was fine.
Now let's think about our lives.  In a sense, God puts blinders on us spiritually.  We know there is a spiritual battle between good and evil going on over our lives.  The Bible tells us about it.  But if God opened our eyes so we could actually see everything going on around us in the spiritual realm and fully understand the battle for the souls of men, we would freak out.  It would be too much for our human understanding.  So, just like the horse with her master, we need to trust God for the things we can't see and learn to listen to His voice and do what He tells us.

"Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.' whenever you turn to the right hand, or whenever you turn to the left."  Isaiah 30:21