I could not find the picture of me on my horse, the Old Mare. Yep, that was her name. I was around 7 when I saddled her up. In the afternoons I would come home from school and ride in the pastures & such. Being young I didn’t know all the horse tricks… like how she would blow out her stomach when I was cinching her up. That way the girth would not be too tight during the ride. One afternoon we had been riding for an hour or so when the saddle became loose. I said, “Wow!” to stop so I could get off and tighten the saddle. She ignored me. Most of the time she went along with my young “cowboy” ways but on this afternoon, she decided the ride was over. Off to the barn she headed at a good speed. With my saddle sliding, and me hollering “WHOA! WHOA! WHOA!” she decided to take ‘lil Robert under the clothesline on the way to the barn. She got the best of “Cowboy Bob” that afternoon.
Whoa is for horses. Woe is for people. “Woe is a noun that means a state of deep suffering, grief, or misfortune.” Google. You will find “WOE” 96 times in the Bible. They are warnings that something is about to happen. We find in Revelation 8:13 “As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!” These are some of God’s final warnings of His certain Judgment.
But God has been warning people all through the ages. Judgment breaks His heart. It’s not that God has been ignoring sin. We see why God has allowed the time in 2 Peter 3:9
“The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
Let me repeat this, “not wanting anyone to perish (go to Hell), but everyone to come to repentance.” This ties directly with John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
The days of sin are ending. God hates sin. Only those in a “right relationship” (Romans 5:18) with Him will not die a second death but have eternal life with Christ. Jesus Promises us in John 14:2 “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
It’s a choice of eternity that all will make.
Today's Good News 
Similarly I had such an experience with a horse.
I was in my early teens and my brother and I were on a trip through the Ozarks with our parents and we saw a sign that said “horseback riding” and there was a really cute girl standing by the sign.
My brother and I convince our parents we needed to ride.
We saddled up and we had rode some slow horses before so we acted like we knew what we were doing.
Fist rule of horseback riding in to make sure the saddle is sinched tight. We didn’t. we assumed the girl had everything ready to ride.
We got on the horses and started slowly down a trail.
We past a sign that said “do not run the horses”
As soon as we got out of sight of the start line the girl (who was very cute) said “let’s race”.
Well what are two macho boys to do? We started to run the horses.
As soon as we got the horses running and they were really feeling the urge to run, My saddle began to slide to the side of the horse.
The horse got his head going and would not listen to “Woe, Woe, Woe!!”
I got really afraid because the ground got closer to my head.
Before you know it, I slid out of the saddle and onto the ground missing a pine tree by inches.
I was knocked unconscious and woke up with several people around me and the girl saying “don’t tell anyone we ran the horses”.
Lesson learned. Put on your armor tightly when riding and don’t listen to the enticing words of a cute little girl.
Woe meant stop, pay attention, I am the boss then but with the announcements of Woe in the bible it meant foreboding things were about to happen. Pay attention. Listen and obey.
The horse didn’t want to understand my Woe but it knew what it meant but was headstrong in doing what it wanted just like we are today.
Good news today. Thanks.
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I can relate to your horse riding. My horse’s name was Old Dan. He looked a lot like the horse in the picture below. Daddy would put me on his back when I was just 3 or 4 years old. I would ride on his back while he was grazing and when I got tired, I would climb down his neck holding onto his mane. Then I walk over to mom & dad who were working in the garden right by the pasture while I was “riding”.
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