Drawings: Bridled.

KJV Psalms 32
9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.

It has been interesting for me to discover the inseparability between holiness and happiness. Thus when sin comes into the picture, it has a backpack full of woes. Pain and suffering are not necessarily an arbitrary action from God because we sinned. Rather sin is its own punishment.

Psalm 32 talks about the blessedness of God’s forgiveness. But then there is a paradigm to this horse analogy, and I suggest this is why…

Even though sin is the one that comes with trouble, God has specialized in bringing good out of evil. Consider this quote:

It is written that God cursed the ground for man’s sake.Genesis 3:17. The thorn and the thistle—the difficulties and trials that make his life one of toil and care—were appointed for his good as a part of the training needful in God’s plan for his uplifting from the ruin and degradation that sin has wrought.

God has has fashioned the trouble we bring on ourselves to refine us and in essence bring us back to Himself. Thus, the previous verse states:

KJV Psalms 32
8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.

Even so, verse 9 reveals something interesting. After we have experienced the blessedness of forgiveness God desires to redirect our path to right ways. However, what usually happens? We fall into a state of calmness to a fault. We once more easily are led astray because there is no pain or guilt leading us back to God. We become like a horse in need of bridling. So we fall back into sin, then sin brings woes, woes lead us to seek God and the cycle continues.

God is clearly saying in verse 9, that he is not pleased to watch us bridled and tamed by suffering so that we turn to Him. It is sad that we cannot be trusted with joy or peace. True, some afflictions come to us because of other people’s bad choices; but my prayer is that pain and affliction may not have us running to God, but that it should find us already sitting at His feet.

Can you be trusted with joy?

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