Broken to be Used by God

broken |ˈbrōkən| [no obj. ] (of a person's emotional strength) give way: tame or train (a horse).

Have you ever seen a wild horse running thorough a meadow, completely free to do as it pleases? It's a beautiful sight to see, unless of course you need to make a long journey and horseback is the only way to get there. In that moment, even more beautiful than a horse in the wild is a horse in a stable, saddled-up and ready to go. In fact, the only thing that wild horses are good for is to look at. You can't use them for work, and you certainly can't use them for transportation. A useful horse is a broken one. It sounds kind of harsh. To a horse it probably sounds like the end of their freedom, the end of their glory days. 

But pretend with me for a moment that horses can reason and think logically. Now, imagine that there is a horse in a meadow somewhere that is completely untamed, free to roam the land and do as it pleases. It has no real purpose, but wanders around day to day searching for something new to indulge itself in. One day a man and his companions approach this horse, over take it, and despite all of its kicking and bucking, manage to get it into a secure stable in the near-by town. Every day the man works with the horse to break it in and train it for a rider, and though the he is as kind and as gentle as possible, the horse is absolutely miserable about it! He dreams of the days when he was galloping through the fields free to do as he pleased, overlooking, of course, the fact that those days lacked purpose. Day by day, the will of the horse is being broken, until one day he is finally ready to be ridden. The man walks into the stable early that morning as he did every day, but this day something was different about the man's appearance. Instead of his usual attire of work clothes, boots, and riding gloves, he is adorned in the attire of a king. After all, he is in fact the king. Another thing that differs about this day is the way that the man saddles up the horse. Instead of the usual saddle that is placed on it's back for training, the man places a beautifully embroidered saddle on the horse and places a bit of gold in the horse's mouth. The king then mounts the horse and parades it through the street as the people cheer and throw petals for it's feet to tread on. The king then leads the horse out of the city and into the camp where the other soldiers are waiting, ready for battle. The horse in that moment realizes that he has been given the most noble task of any other in the land. He is the King's horse and has the honor of leading Him into the battle. Wandering aimlessly through the fields no longer appeals to this horse. There could be no greater satisfaction found than the satisfaction that comes from being the King's. Now he knows true freedom- the ability to wholeheartedly serve the King.

So, where are you? Maybe you are in the field, roaming around aimlessly with no purpose, holding on to a false definition of freedom. I, however, find myself in a season of being in the stable, in a season of being broken. The King comes in and meets with me daily, retraining me that I may be used by Him. Most days it hurts. He is kind and gentle, but He applies the pressure necessary that I may be changed and transformed into who He needs me to be. Some days I find my flesh dreaming about the times when I was free to do as I pleased, overlooking, of course, the fact that those days lacked purpose. Forgetting, of course, that those days only provided temporary fulfillment. In the process of being broken, there are days when I feel completely exhausted as if one more ounce of pressure will not only break me, but completely destroy me. But then I remember that that is the old horse talking. The horse that didn't understand that the King's desire isn't to destroy me by any means. He desires only that I be in a place where I will know true satisfaction and freedom. A place where I am free to respond to Him wholly as the person He has created me to be.