Harnessing Strength: The Importance of Direction

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As a little boy, I grew up in an Agricultural home. Farming was not only a readily available economic activity but an absolute necessity. Land left fallow during the planting season was a recipe for disaster and a bold seduction to famine. To make work easier, we employed oxen and a plough. 

Analogy of oxen

However, using oxen to plough planting fields was not a walk in the park. It demanded a lot of accuracy and tact.

The greatest and most important duty involved the oxen training to know what they are supposed to do. You know, oxen are not born committed to duty. An ox is not qualified for the trade simply because of its strength. It is qualified because of the training to know what it is supposed to do.

An ox often pulls in the wrong direction during training. This behaviour is normal to see. Such an ox is very strong, but he is useless until he can learn the direction. This calls for patience and careful training until an ignoramus ox graduates into a reliable bull.

However, some oxen never graduate either because of stubbornness or unskilled trainers. It is frustrating to work with a bull pulling in the wrong direction. It’s also tough when one keeps crumbling down due to fear of commitment. Talk to someone who has handled oxen. He will tell you how annoying it is to work with a non-committal ox.

Life Application

In the same way, we have people gifted in different fields. They have the strength of an ox in handling a few life challenges.

Some are gifted in singing, some are great at artwork, and others can do their spot in a masterclass. Like powerful oxen, we have people who can powerfully wound transgressors of God’s law and comfort those who walk in the path of obedience, perfect and perpetual. Others are skilful in the instruments.

What are you strong in? 

Whatever you are so good at, direction is important. You must pull in the right direction and with the rest.

You radiate the most solemn basso profondo with stable resonance. Your timbre is captivating. However, when you don’t harmonize with the rest, you can be so annoying and boring.

A Skilled athlete who does not follow the team’s pattern is wasteful and will attract the wrath of the fans. There is beauty in being orderly and manageable. You can be the swiftest, but no medal awaits you if you follow the wrong direction.

Look at your friend here😂:

One of the greatest challenges in the world today is the undisciplined geniuses.

Every school has a very sharp student who listens to no one. He is a Mr I know it all, which hampers their potential. A highly informed employee with questionable character who can only work when supervised. They have the needed skill set, but employing them is too costly; you must employ an auditor to ensure funds are used as supposed. After acquiring their services, you must employ a supervisor to ensure they are employing their skills aright. And they are so bothersome that even supervising them is a problem. 

Look at the natural world?

The seasons follow each other in an orderly pattern. The stars of heaven are obedient to the law guiding them in the vast galaxies. The rivers do not make a stupid attempt to flow up the slope. If we were to learn obedience from nature, we would be a very useful group of people. 

We should learn from a well-organized Yoke of Oxen the power of a united and disciplined effort. It is not enough to be strong in something; it must be done right.

As an employee of an organization, find it a good thing to work with your colleagues. Don’t pull backwards while people are pushing ahead.

You become a nuisance anytime your efforts look calculated to go against the mission of your team.

You are strong but useless to the team. 

This is the reason why religion is not practised in oblivion. You can’t just do whatever pleases you. You must conform to the doctrinal framework of whatever religion you practice.

For instance, if you are a Christian, you must do it Biblically. And what does the Bible say?

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,  not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” [Hebrews 10:23-25] 

If we are all converted to Christ, we must pull together in the same direction.

This, however, is not the case because the truth that can sanctify has been dropped to the scaffolds. People love their opinions more than the voice of God in his word, leading to traditionalists masquerading as Christians. This produces people who are very religious but not spiritual at all. They are strong in their practices but not useful because the energies have been misdirected. 

“The stars of heaven are all under law, each influencing the other to do the will of God, yielding their common obedience to the law that controls their action. And, in order that the Lord’s work may advance healthfully and solidly, His people must draw together. The spasmodic, fitful movements of some who claim to be Christians are well represented by the work of strong but untrained horses. When one pulls forward, another pulls back, and at the voice of their master, one plunges ahead, and the other stands immovable. If men will not move in concert in the great and grand work for this time, there will be confusion… If men wear the yoke of Christ, they cannot pull apart; they will draw with Christ….”

—My Life Today 39.3

How do you exercise your power?