“Who led them through the deep, as a horse in the wilderness, [that] they might not stumble? As a beast goes down into the valley, [and] the Spirit of the LORD causes him to rest, so You lead Your people, to make Yourself a glorious name.” - Isaiah 63:13-14
Life can be really chaotic at times; at least from our perspective. The challenge for us as Christians, is realizing that, when think things are “out of control,” that’s never really true. If we believe that God is in control at all times, then nothing is outside of His control at any time. If we know who God really is, we have to remember and trust that, God has perfectly arranged all things in our lives, at all times, even in the moments that seem dark and hectic.
That’s what I love about this photo. I didn’t mean to capture this photo when I did, but that is just another example of how the LORD is always leading us and keeping us in the fold of His orderly purposes. I took this photo not long after my family and I moved to Kentucky. We were on our way to meet up with some family in the Louisville area, but left ourselves some extra time, figuring we’d get lost, not knowing where we were.
On our way to the highway, we happened to see a castle. Yes, an actual castle. Friends we met had told us about this place, so when we started to come up on it, we wanted to try and take some time to drive by to see it up close. So I turned down a street that I thought would take us to the castle. It did not. It was a small road that circled around the castle, and as I kept going, it got really narrow. I was stuck going in the wrong direction, without a place to turn around. The road just kept going, taking us farther from where we wanted to be.
The road was tight, surrounded by big trees on both sides, but thankfully we could see that there was a break in the trees at a distance, giving us hope that we’d be able to turn around at that opening. When we got to the open area, we found a driveway to the left that I could use to turn around, but I quickly slammed on the brakes because of what I saw on the right – these horses. It was pretty amazing to see. The landscape just opened up, and there was nothing to be seen on either side for miles, except these four horses. I think the thing that was so great about it, was that these horses were perfectly arranged in this line, equally distanced from one another. It was like a painting!
So, I used the driveway that was to the left, but not to turn around. I parked the car there for a minute, and had the family keep lookout for me. Having my camera with me, I was able to snap about 3 or 4 photos before the horses went over the hill and couldn’t be seen anymore. This was one of them. When I got back home later that night to look at the photo, it was fun to think about how this photo came about. This scene seems so peaceful and orderly. It’s minimal, but that’s what makes it great. There are so few variables in the photo, and the ones that are there, are arranged neatly. None of those things describe the actual circumstances in which the photo was taken. We were lost. We were going in the wrong direction. We were stuck. We thought we were getting off track to the point where we would be late to our event. We were frustrated, confused, and all of that stuff. Then, we weren’t.
It's true a lot of times that, I get way more excited about my photos than the rest of my family does. That wasn’t the case this time. We all understood the message the LORD was sending. When we all saw this photo, and thought about how this photo got captured, we were all reminded that, when we don’t know where we’re going, the LORD knows. He’s got things in order. He’s got things lined up. This road trip in Kentucky was like a revelation about how God brings order to our lives, even when there is chaos.
The promise of God in Isaiah 63:13-14 reminds us about how God has ALWAYS led His people through dark times, into glorious successes and victories. The children of Israel were slaves in Egypt. God led them out of there as easily as a person might lead a horse by its reigns. It didn’t matter that Israel didn’t know where they were going. The LORD was leading them. That’s why they were able to escape bondage. That’s why there were able to endure wilderness. That’s why they were able to enter the Promised Land in time. They stumbled along the way, but not to the point of utter destruction.
This photo is a great reminder about how easy it is for the Creator of all things, to arrange the circumstances of life in ways that guarantee we end up where He wants us. The God who arranged these horses in a line to create this awesome scene, is the same One who led me down this road to capture it, even while I thought the circumstances were wrong and worthless. If that’s true for something as simple as this photo, it’s certainly true for the weightier matters of life; just like He's proved through His leadership of Israel and the rest of His children.
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