Out Our Way: Riding Trail with your Pard - Isaiah 30:20- 21

Out our way, you learn to trust your pard.

Charlie knew the Tiger Ridge intimately and when I first started riding fence and pushing cows with him, I would have easily gotten lost in the "big open" if Charlie hadn't been with me to guide me. Even when he rode over the ridge after some errant units he gave me direction as to where to ride and where he would find me. He never failed to show up. 

While we like to think of the holy men and women of Scripture as infallible human beings, Scripture is honest and shows us real people dealing with the real God. Contrary to what some "snake oil-medicine show" preachers proclaim, God is God, and not some genie we can command. He is not controllable and believers are not immune from trials. Christ was not, His followers were not, the prophets were not, so what gives us the idea we should be? 

Even so, as Isaiah reminds us, we are not abandoned or alone. God may seemingly have ridden over the ridge, but he has not abandoned us. He has shown us the way and given the promise to be there with us. When Charlie took off after some strays and left me pushing the herd alone, I did not feel abandoned. For I knew Charlie. I knew he was my pard and would come riding over the hill in time, and in the meantime I also trusted him enough to follow the trail he had set me upon and expect it would lead me where I needed to go. I also expected him to meet me there and he always did. Charlie never sent me on a false trail and never failed to show up. 

Like Isaiah, there were times I wondered if God could be relied upon. Like Charlie going over the ridge, it seems there were times when He simply disappeared. There still are! Well, Isaiah had times like that too - as did Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and all the prophets. Look at Paul and the other Apostles and you will see the same. We will all experience times of seeming abandonment.

But before you give up, recall the words of Psalm 22 Christ called from the cross. "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?" Then read the whole psalm and discover what Jesus was really saying. The so-called "cry of dereliction" is actually a call to faith. Jesus quoted the first verse of the Psalm so others would recall the rest of it. It is a psalm of hope and triumph in the midst of despair.

Isaiah's word of hope is not based on wishful thinking or "snake oil preacher sale pitches," but on experience and a depth of faith that came from years of "riding trail with God as his Pard."

What? Your "Pard" has ridden over the ridge and you have lost sight of Him? Welcome to the club. But that doesn't mean He has forgotten you, that he doesn't care, or that He has abandoned you. You ride with the Lord. Yes, you will  have times when it feels like you ride alone - but it ain't so. Isaiah certainly felt alone and abandoned at times, but read his words and see what he discovered. Your Teacher - your "Rabbi" is still with you to show you His way - the way you need to go. Like Charlie, who rode over the ridge but showed me the way and came to meet me in it as I followed his instructions, so the Lord is your Pard and showing the Way. Ride in it.

Be blessed and be a blessing!

Brother John

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The Rev. John Bruington is the retired pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Havre. He now lives in Colorado, but continues to write "Out Our Way." He can be reached for comment or dialogue at [email protected].