“Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better.”
That was a principle I learned pretty early in my horsemanship journey. I remember a time when my mentor and I were working with an Arabian horse that had had a bad experience on the trail with its owner. We weren’t told very much about what happened, but apparently a tree branch snagged the rider’s helmet. Understandably, the noise was enough to throw the horse into a panic. Not only did the owner fall off the horse, but she also broke her arm. Because of that one bad experience, the horse associated almost everything above its back as a danger. No one in the owner’s family could ride it.
And so, they sent the horse our way.
I think we always got the horses that no one wanted to work with. It wasn’t uncommon for people to send us the horses that had been through four or five trainers. Sometimes we were the horse’s last hope, because the owner was ready to put the horse down if things didn’t work out at our barn (No pressure, right?). Often times, there was nothing big taking place, it was just that the owner was too scared to handle their horse. And while it’s true that you have to have grit when it comes to handling large animals, it is understanding that helps you realize all the good things that can take place. There’s a lot of potential just waiting to come out, but you have to be willing to change.
This Arabian horse was no exception to the sort of horses people would give us. Looking back at it now, if I had learned under anyone else, I think I might have gotten seriously hurt or killed. Horses are powerful animals, and they are to be respected. For them, it is always a respond and respect relationship. But this is something that many people do not grasp about animals in general. You have to understand that animals don’t perceive things the way that we do. So, if one has a bad experience, it can stay with them for the rest of their lives. The idea of ‘trusting God through difficulties’ is something that doesn’t apply to them.
When my mentor and I started working with the horse, it was scared of about everything. It really took some time for us to get the horse to trust us. And it wasn’t that we were doing anything wrong, it was just that the horse had gone through a bad experience and didn’t want to go through something like that again. To the horse, we were really something to get away from, and not something to put up with.
Because it was early in my journey, there were a lot of things I didn’t have experience with and hadn’t been exposed to. But my mentor had worked with enough horses to know that sometimes you just have to hang in there and wait. There might be times when you have to switch things up a bit, but there are also times when just have to fix it and wait. It is these times that demand the heart of a horseman. The horse will know his character, and decide if this human being is worth trusting.
My mentor taught me a lot about adjusting to fit the situation, but this horse was the first to teach me about the power of staying consistent. Horses thrive on consistency, which is why the human has to know what he’s doing. He can’t just do a bunch of “stuff,” rather he needs to have purpose in everything he’s doing. Horses know when you’re there for them, and they know when you’re not. This is why your approach is everything.
One of the basics with adjusting to a situation is going to the horse’s level, instead of dragging him to your own level. When they don’t know what you want, it is unreasonable to ask for something that isn’t there. When you go to their level, they learn to trust you because you made your idea their idea. And pretty soon, their idea becomes your idea. It’s the opposite of how we typically think.
But let’s keep going with the story.
Eventually, we did earn the Arabian’s trust, but this was going to be a long process. With horses that have a clean slate (no garbage in their background), you can get them confident enough to ride on the first day you work with them. But for those who have had a bad experience, you can’t expect an overnight change.
That was something I had to learn.
As the month went by, we saw a lot of good changes happen. We spent a lot of hot, sweaty days in the arena with this horse. He would let us do a lot with him, but there was still that ‘spot’ above his back that bothered him. Whenever we worked a flag over his back or his head, he would just fall apart. For myself at the time, I was getting frustrated and discouraged. Why aren’t things changing? I asked myself. To be honest, I was getting tired of working with the horse. It wasn’t that we were doing anything wrong, but it was one of the first situations in my life that made demands on my character. I had to decide if I was going to keep with it or not.
After two weeks of working with this horse, we finally reached the point where we could start putting weight into the stirrups. It looked like things were finally progressing, but the horse just wasn’t ready for something to be on top of it again. The horse was already sweating, so my mentor decided to try something that good horsemen rarely need to do: lay the horse down.
Laying horses down is not what you might think it is. It’s not the old cowboy method of wrestling a horse to the ground and putting a water hose in his ears. No, laying a horse down is about getting them to their most vulnerable position. When on the ground, they can’t defend themselves from predators. It is in this position that many horses will ‘give up’. They temporarily let go of that instinctiveness to get away or fight back.
In the wrong hands, laying a horse down can be done wrong and have the wrong purpose. It can also be dangerous. But my mentor knew what he was doing. He didn’t make the horse lay down, but he made it difficult to keep standing on all fours. Before long, the Arabian bent his knees and laid down in the middle of the arena. Gently and with good timing, my mentor put the weight of his body above the horse. I had never seen anything like it. I couldn’t believe that the horse would accept this and actually… enjoy it.
My friend kept petting the horse soothingly and rubbing him where it felt good. It was a wonder to see, and one that I don’t think I could ever forget. He walked away from the horse and let him lie in the sand for a few seconds. To my surprise, the horse didn’t want to get up right away. Even in its most vulnerable position, it trusted us. From that point on, the horse didn’t care what we did with him. And it was just a matter of time before we were riding him.
It had to get worse before it got better.
When I look at the world today, I see a culture that rejects God, believes in utter nonsense, lives carelessly, is filled with hatred and self-righteousness, has no love for people, has no love for good, invents ways of doing evil, refuses to take responsibility, worships pleasure, worships self, perverts justice, has a debased mind, murders the innocent, and believes everyone else is the problem. It is a level of darkness that I have never seen in my lifetime. People have gone from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. The love of many has grown cold. The level of corruption, not just in government, but also in the workplace and in the home is obvious, and yet there is great blindness to it. You can’t go anywhere without it weighing on you. And the big question is: What do I do with it? For someone who doesn’t personally know the Lord Jesus Christ and has not yet been reconciled to God, the answer is this: You need to get right with God. For the believer, the answer is this: You need to depend on God and trust His plan.
It's easier said than done. After all, we want things to be made right. The trouble we run into, however, is when we see ourselves as the answer to the world’s problems. Believers are not mini-messiahs in this world. Rather, we are ambassadors for Christ. We represent Him in this life, and we share the Gospel, not just in word but also in deed. Our actions speak a message to the world that there really is an alternative to the way the world lives. There really is a better life, and it is pure. God is not some “religious crutch” to get us through adversity. He is our Father in Heaven who cares deeply for us and this world. He desires for all people to know Him. He is the Author of Life and promises eternal life and forgiveness to those who will accept His free gift through His Son. He is a just God who enacts His justice, and He is a loving God who pursues sinners.
About a year ago, I started asking God to show this nation just how wicked it really is. In many ways, I think He has answered that prayer. But a realization occurred to me: when evil is exposed, you actually have to look at it! And it’s really ugly.
“Ugly”
That is a word that I think describes this nation very well right now. And to many people—even believers—we begin to wonder if our nation could ever return to its “glory days”.
My answer is No.
You see, no matter what generation we are talking about, and no matter what circumstances come to mind about ‘the old days,’ every generation has had its baggage. Drugs, alcohol, smoking, premarital sex, and homosexuality (to name a few) are not new sins for mankind. Our fallen race has committed sin ever since we rebelled in the Garden of Eden. There is no “Great Generation,” nor are there “golden years”. Every generation has rebelled against God and tried to suppress the truth. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Our “good” doesn’t “outweigh our bad”. That’s not how true justice works. And God doesn’t use our standard of righteousness. He uses His. It’s only by the blood of His Son Jesus and His righteousness applied to our account that we can spend eternity with God. This is by faith in Him and what He did for us on the cross.
Because of the condition of the world, and, more specifically, this nation, I think a lot of Christians have taken a passive approach to their life testimony. It carries the thought of, “Well, we’re probably in the last days anyway. What’s gonna be is what’s gonna be.”
This is a really selfish kind of thinking, as it is a copout from sharing the message of hope to a dying world. Our Greek culture knows almost nothing about the One true God anymore. The basics that once were no longer are. Believers are to remain faithful to the end, which includes are testimony.
When I look at the world, I see hard hearts. I see callousness (a heart that doesn’t feel), and ears that care nothing about reality. Paul’s letter to the Romans is clear that when people do not see fit to acknowledge God, glorify Him, and thank Him, He gives them over to a depraved mind, doing what ought not to be done. Or, in other words, because they love their wickedness so much, He decides to let them have their way, which eventually leads to their own destruction.
But you might say that there are some people whom God, essentially, ‘hangs in there with’. These are people who pursue their own selfish desires and don’t want to listen to God (this can apply to believers as well). Like that Arabian, it might mean a lot of days going through something that they keep doing to themselves. And it might take a lot of dead ends for a person to finally wake up and realize that life is not found in other things. Life is only found in God. Those things that we thought would bring lasting satisfaction actually didn’t. They were great disappointments coming from misplaced hope.
For some people, they might have to hit rock bottom (their most vulnerable position) to finally realize how stupid and foolish they have been. They’ve been seeing God the way that Satan has wanted them to see Him. Instead of a God who desires to rescue, He has been painted as someone who wants to ruin everything. This is the power of a lie.
I don’t know about you, but I have people in my life who might need to hit rock bottom before they finally wake up. They are pursuing their own selfish desires and don’t want to please God. And as the person who knows them, I have to remember that God sometimes lets people live life for a while, in order for them to see how void of life the world really is. Getting married doesn’t give life, getting rich doesn’t give life, the “perfect” job doesn’t give life, drugs don’t give life, alcohol doesn’t give life, sport trophies don’t give life, sex does not satisfy, and neither does anything else this world has to offer.
If people would be vulnerable to God from the start, they wouldn’t have to go through the mess they create for themselves. I say that to Christians as well. Our selfish pursuits can really create big messes and great frustrations. The damage that sin causes is never worth what it falsely promises to deliver.
“Sometimes it has to get worse before it gets better.”
Can things change? Can a whole nation change? Can difficult people change? Can prolonged situations change?
I believe they can. In Christ, there is always hope for change. That’s why this nation needs the Gospel message. It’s also why we need the Gospel message for ourselves. We remember that Christ died that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and was raised.
For the discouraged Christian, I want to encourage you. Remember that some of God’s greatest works often take place in some of history’s darkest times.
He is still sovereign.
And to the weary soldier in Christ, hold fast to your shield and find your strength in God Almighty.
-CH
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