The main character of the television show ‘The Lone Ranger’ started off as a ranger among a group of rangers. One day his band of rangers got ambushed and he was the lone survivor of the ambush. The Lone Ranger was left for dead, but he alone recovered.
Tonto finds the Lone Ranger and nurses him back to health, recognizing him as the one who saved him as a child. Tonto fashions a mask to hide the Lone Ranger’s true identity.
When the Lone Ranger begins to get his strength back, he hears in the canyon below the sound of a horse. The horse becomes known as Silver. He figured that horse could provide him a way of escape from his situation. The only problem was that the horse was a wild stallion. The wild stallion had to be brought under the control of the Lone Ranger. Silver would throw him off and the Lone Ranger would get back on, only to be thrown off again. The Lone Ranger rode Silver until Silver got the message that he was no longer in charge.
When the Lone Ranger took over the reigns of Silver’s life, the horse could now do things that he would have never been able to do on his own; all because he was controlled by one more intelligent than he.
Clayton Moore played the Lone Ranger for the television series that ran from 1949 to 1957. Tonto would refer to the Lone Ranger as Kemo sabe or ‘faithful friend’, or ‘trusted scout’. Tonto was a Mohawk Indian named Jay Silverheels. You could hear Tonto say to his horse, “get ’em up, Scout!”. The Lone Ranger always encouraged his horse by saying “Hi-Yo Silver!” At the end of the show he would say, “Hi-Yo Silver! Away!”
This was a good, wholesome show for a young boy to watch, so unlike the TV shows and video games that today’s children grow up on. The good guy fighting the bad guy has become so much more violent over the years that it is difficult to know which guy is the evil one.
God describes the strength and beauty of the horse in Job 39:19-25.”Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane? Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrifying. He paws in the valley and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons. He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword. Upon him rattle the quiver, the flashing spear, and the javelin. With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground; he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet. When the trumpet sounds, he says ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.”
James teaches what the Lone Ranger knew. “If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.” James 3:3.
Proverbs teaches us that the horse is mighty in battle, but the end result belongs to the controlling of the Lord. Proverbs 21:31 “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord.”
Silver was living his life wild and free, fending for himself, surviving against the hostility of nature by his own brute strength. When The Lone Ranger tames him, he becomes a skilled vessel to bring the bad guys to justice. Silver is a legend in the minds of my generation.
You and I are born rebels. We rebel against people telling us what to do and when to do it. We fight against any rules that violate the natural desires of this flesh for its comfort and pleasure. We are a lot like Silver, independent, proud and self-willed. Until we learn to conform to the rules of our parents, of school, of work and of play, we are a danger to others and to ourselves. Also, we cannot experience the fullness of God’s Kingdom as wild stallions. The nightly news does, however, demonstrate how people can be used by the devil for his evil purposes, in self-destructive lifestyles, hurting themselves and those around them.
We have to be broken, as Silver was, before we can star with the Lone Ranger. Jesus Christ is our Lone Ranger and He desires to teach us obedience by the things which we suffer. Jesus learned obedience by His suffering; and we learn obedience the same way. Suffering makes us dependent upon something other than our confidence in our own mental and physical strengths. Suffering humbles us as we acknowledge that we need someone else to help us. Suffering teaches us dependence as we need someone to guide and direct us, and as we need someone to protect us from our own rebellion. Jesus asked three times for the cup of a Roman crucifixion to be removed by His Father, before submitting His will to the will of His Father. How many times have you and I resisted God’s directing us to quit doing this thing or that thing, before we finally submitted to His direction? Until we do those things that are pleasing in His sight, we are not promised receipt of what we ask of Him. (I John 3:22)
God chastens and corrects us as His children. Hebrews 12:10-11 “For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
We can get a glimpse of what broken horses can accomplish against the bad guys, by reading about Jesus Christ coming with His Saints on White Horses to fight against the devil and his armies at the end of time. I want to be one of those who ride with Him, called Faithful and True. How about you?
Revelation 19:11-21 “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.”
Jesus may not call His white horse ‘Silver’. He most likely will not say the words, “Hi Yo Silver!”, but He will say, “Away!” to Satan as He casts him and his evil followers into the Lake of Fire. I want to see that day more than anything. The source of all pain and suffering will finally receive his just dues.