The Bit-and-Bridle Christian

Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding, but must be controlled by bit and bridle... Psalm 32:9

I’ve never been a horse: so I can only imagine what it must be like the first time a human being decides to put a bit into your mouth. A nasty, hard, cold piece of metal, with straps attached to force you to move your head whichever way your rider chooses. Even if the bit is made as comfortable as possible - as I am sure it is in humane horsey circles - it can’t be a very pleasant piece of gear. 

A bit and bridle mean control: “You will do what I say, and not just what you want. You will go where I decide, and not just where you choose. You don’t have to think for yourself - that will be done for you. And if you try to rebel and disobey, well, sorry, but it will be very unpleasant for you. You’ll end up with a pretty sore mouth.”

It’s interesting that the Psalmist uses the bit and bridle as an illustration of how we shouldn’t relate to God. Certainly, we are called to respond to God’s leading with implicit obedience. But that obedience should be glad and willing, not something forced upon us. People who work with horses say that they develop deep relationships with their animals, real affection and respect, and I don’t doubt that that is true. But it doesn’t come close - no, not by a million miles - to the relationship between two people, two thinking beings who can relate to one another through speech, with smiles and frowns, jokes and debate, gestures and silences, discussion and laughter. 

People who don’t know the Old Testament often talk of the God depicted in its pages as hard, severe, judgmental, very different from the God of the New. This is a caricature. And this psalm is just one of dozens of Old Testament passages that make that clear: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you” (verse 8). No bit and bridle there! - it’s all care, concern, tenderness. In fact, it’s not far removed from the words of Jesus to his disciples in John 15:15: “I no longer call you servants, for a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I have learned from my Father I have made known to you”. 

I have called you friends. That pretty well sums it up. Christianity - and indeed, much of the religion of the Old Testament too - is all about relationships. How sad it is then, that we often have the talent for reducing it to the level of forced obedience, the bit and bridle option: “Oh well, God says this is what I must do, so I suppose I had better get on with it”. 

The question arises: Am I a “bit-and-bridle” Christian, aiming to please God through gritted teeth? Or am I a “glad obedience” Christian, intent on enjoying my relationship with God, and taking pleasure from doing his perfect will? – yes, even when it doesn’t really suit me. 

Jesus never used the bit and bridle image. But he did give us something a little similar: he spoke about the “yoke”, the wooden device that was used to control the ox (Matthew 11: 29-30). But the great thing about his yoke is that it is “easy” (the word can be translated “good” or “pleasant”). And what does it lead to? Ah, something bit and bridle can never give: “You will find rest for your souls”. 

 Is your soul at rest? It can be! 

Father, your ways are not always easy, and your demands can be hard. But teach me the joy of glad obedience, and so help me to know that rest and peace of soul of which Jesus speaks. Amen.