Submit yourselves, then, to God.
Since God opposes the proud and favors the humble, do the right thing. As Jesus said to Paul in Acts 26: 14, it is hard to kick against the goads.
Goads are not something we know much about these days. They are common in rural areas where people still use animals for pulling carts or plows. If you want an animal to move when the animal doesn’t want to move you goad it. Basically, you poke at it with a sharp stick or a stick with an iron point. Wanting to get away from the pain, the animal moves. If it still doesn’t want to move, it might try and kick the goad away. That tends to hurt more.
God’s opposition to the ungodly is a goad. It is a pain that is intended to drive us toward God. More accurately, towards reliance on God. If we resist, we are kicking “against the goads.”
Why do we do that?
Continue reading “John 4: 7a — Goads”