To Encourage You

Acts 26:14 “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”

Have you ever wondered why the Bible often speaks to us in metaphors?  So often, rather than speaking in a direct way, it uses figures of speech.  Well, since the source of the Bible is God, Who is the greatest communicator, we can be sure that the way He has spoken to us is the best way for us to be told what He has to say. 

One of the things that metaphors do is draw pictures for us that expand greatly on their economy of words..  One such example is shown above as Jesus spoke to Saul (later renamed Paul) on the road to Damascus. Saul was on a quest to exterminate the early Christians. He hated them and all they stood for, so much so that he was persecuting them to the death. But then Jesus appeared to Him in a blinding light and asked him “Why are you persecuting me?”  With these words Saul’s eyes were opened to the fact that his opposition to Christians was actually opposition to Jesus, the Lord of the Christians.  But then the metaphor: “It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”  A goad was an instrument that farmers used in that day to control oxen.  Think of a cattle-prod today.  It was a stick with a very sharp end with which a farmer would prod oxen which were under a yoke so that they would go in the way he wanted.  When an ox would “kick against the goad,” it would only bring more pain, and realizing this, it would eventually submit to, rather than resist, the guidance of its master. 

So, what did this metaphor mean for Saul, and furthermore, what does it mean for us?  For one, Saul was being likened to an ox, a beast of burden, but he did not recognize who the “master of all oxen” was.  He was “dumber than an ox,” so to speak, for as the Scriptures spoke of the nation of Israel, so it spoke of this Israelite, Saul.  Listen to the words of Isaiah 1:3 in this context: “The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.”  In other words, a domesticated animal knows the one who cares for it. It knows the source of its food, water, and shelter.  Many people, on the other hand, although their every meal has been provided to them by God and every good gift they have ever been given ultimately has come from the Father in Heaven (James 1:17), they often don’t recognize this or give it a second thought.  Worse, they resist this One Who alone cares for them.  They rebel against all He has said.  But with that resistance comes pain, inflicted by the God Who loves them, wants what is best for them, and cares too much for them than to let them go on their own self-destructive way. 

You see, God, in his love, has given us pain as an instrument of his love.  When we feel pain in our body, it is an indication that something is wrong with us physically. If that pain didn’t exist, we would not know to seek help, and the disease or malady that was causing it could lead to our death.  God has likewise provided painful consequences to the spiritual malady of sin.  He has given us a conscience as one such “goad.”  When we violate that conscience, it brings inner turmoil that disturbs our soul.  He has given us parents who disciplined us in our youth. He has ordained the institution of government to punish those who would steal from, kill, and otherwise bring harm to others.  And he has built into His creation the natural consequences of sin, things like disease, pain in relationships, financial hardship, and other such things.  So often when we continue in sin in the face of such goads, the pain inevitably only gets worse.  It’s like the prodigal son found as he went his own way in rebellion to his father to only end up eating slop with the pigs.  In all this the Lord is telling us, as He told Israel in the words of Ezekiel, “As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11). 

So, are there any goads afflicting your life right now? Are you experiencing any painful consequences to sin?  If so, what is your response?  Are you kicking against the goads? Are you resisting the God Who created you? If so, know it will only continue to get harder for you, for we will inevitably reap what we sow, and the wages of sin is always death.  But if you will submit, if you will turn from the path you are on and submit to the God Who is Lord of all, you will find blessing and eternal life just like the rebel Saul who turned from his self-destructive ways to become God’s humble and blessed servant, Paul.