I read out of Acts 26 this AM – Paul conveying his conversion experience to King Agrippa. The last sentence in verse 14 grabbed my attention. Acts 26:14 - “And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
Three application points: ( A goad is a point, prick, stinger often used to prod stubborn oxen)
When we hurt the church we hurt ourselves – obvious. Not so obvious, and this is where I think it applies to me (us), we cannot resist what God has purposed for us to accomplish. Resisting the directive of God brings pain and no solution to the reason(s) why we are resisting his directive in the first place. Obeying the directive of God usually involves COST (Sacrifice) but in faithfully following his directive (despite pain, cost, sacrifice) we experience the equipping GRACE and JOY of God.
I cannot resist the providence of God…by his grace I have no desire to do so. (Note: Paul saw and heard the visible resurrected Christ – ( a vision I imagine difficult to sideline and thus disobey). I don’t need a visible appearance and audible voice from God to motivate me to obey — however, affirmations and confirmations from his written word, circumstances and people, whom I respect, help me to be content that I am indeed following God’s specific directive for me (us).
Check out this link to bring some more clarity to the “Goad” sentence. FAITH BLOG
This was very insightful…never really noticed that short sentence. Small sentence with so much incredible power and blessing!