Feb | 26 | The Making, The Breaking & The Branding of Mavericks

Dream Word – DESTINY

Exodus 3:1-2 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. KJV.

The Making, The Breaking & The Branding of Mavericks

Even though they are rarely wanted by the rest of the herd, there has always been a need for the unorthodox, the unconventional and the non-conformist. The banding together of cattle in herd mentality, might for many, lead to safety, acceptance, corporate fellowship and copulation, but for the unbranded bull, all the mooing hides, the hoofed-up dust and the half eaten grass by muddy and well trampled waters, offers little consolation for their pioneer spirit. So, they leave the herd or are ejected from it, and plough their own trails on the roads less travelled, through the high sierras and down the rocky crags. It’s a lonely life being a maverick, but it is only the mavericks that forge the newer tracks amongst God’s green and rolling hills, yes, it is only the mavericks that find the mount of the Most High God and return to the herd with a message. All true prophets are of necessity, mavericks.
I have often wondered whether mavericks are made or born? I believe it can be either. I believe it can be both. Pity the born maverick then, penned in by the herd, the deep furrows of the track, the fences, the tall tales of fearful giants and the taller tales of safer days, ‘herdside’, for I tell you that that bull shall die on his frustrated feet, long, long before his horns shall ever hit the dust. Pity the made maverick as well then, who, while longing not to be so unacceptable, and seeking earnestly some respectable conformity, nevertheless, when exhibiting the signs of some seeming, mad cow disease, is rejected and derided, excluded and divided, from those he longs to be with. Forgive me for mixing my animals, but maverick bulls are often the scapegoats that are sent away into the desert with a flea in their ear, carrying the sins of the people.

Yes, mavericks are both born and made, but both must, one way or another, embrace the loneliness of the backside of the desert. Moses was such a man, born and made a maverick. John the Baptiser was such a man, born and made a maverick. Hosea was such a man, Jeremiah, Amos, Paul, and tens of thousands of others, named and unnamed, were all mavericks, each of them returning to the herd with a burning message from Horeb, that only a maverick man might get!

A maverick with a message is hated by the enemy and he will always try and break him. Remember, that there was once a maverick Levite, (Judges 17:7 onwards) who left the herd at Bethlehem only later to sell his maverick soul for ten shekels and a shirt. Once the transaction was done, he found it easier to sell it again and again, for a little more money each time. The consequences of this breaking of a maverick bull, was that the man and his message was marred beyond recovery. Yes, there are two things that break a maverick and ruin his message once he gets it: First, money and secondly, the need for herd respectability. Yes, money and the need for affirmation from the other animals are the two siren scimitars which might slice the maverick man in two. Demas was cut in two by the former (2 Tim 4:10) and God help us, Peter and Barnabas were both sliced and diced by the latter. (Galatians 2:11-21)

The original and popular use of the word ‘Maverick’ referred to ‘wayward calves and cattle, who wandered the range, unbranded.’ Such cattle when found, hardy and well fed, became the property of the first person to put their own brand upon them. Broken Mavericks are always branded in the end. Yes, often times, many religious leaders throughout the ages, even Popes and Senior Pastors all, have all discovered that the best way to deal with a boisterous bull, is to brand him first and then cut his balls off, for mavericks always disturb the herd.

Mavericks in the making, wandering in the backside of the desert before they arrive at the Mount of God, before the fire of the burning bush is given into their bosom, might be some of the loneliest, frustrated and disconsolate people I have ever met, but oh my God, oh dear Lord deliver us, those now branded bulls, former mavericks of old, now wandering around without their balls but accepted by the herd, are some of the saddest animals in the world, sporting both bad meat for the butcher and polluted manure for the ground. For once the branding took the light from their eyes, they also lost their flavour, their singing salty savour and became respectful, ruined and absolutely rotten. There is no recovery from this.

May God grant His flock, many a mighty maverick, both born and made and may such mavericks, avoid both the branding iron and the plush pliers of the caring castrators. In all their wide and windswept wanderings, may they find the Mount of God, see the burning bush, receive the majestic message in their hearts and from such burning and lonely furnaces of affliction, deal death to Pharaoh’s everywhere and reveal the safe paths of deliverance to all the flock of God. Amen.

Listen: - "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah 1:5 NKJV

Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: "Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, To root out and to pull down, To destroy and to throw down, To build and to plant." Jeremiah 1:9-10 NKJV

For behold, I have made you this day A fortified city and an iron pillar, And bronze walls against the whole land — Against the kings of Judah, Against its princes, Against its priests, And against the people of the land. They will fight against you, But they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you," says the Lord, "to deliver you." Jeremiah 1:18-19 NKJV

Pray:- Help us O Lord, to arm our mavericks and not to harm them. May they find new paths, hidden trails, fresh waters, and for their own heart's sake and for our continued deliverance, may they find both The Mount and The Message, in Jesus name we pray, amen.