Every schoolyard scuffle, every backstreet battle and every destructive disagreement comes down to the question… says who? Who’s in control, the boss? Who calls the shots? It’s the age-old quandary, do I live to please myself, or do I serve the Lord? You can live your life your way, or you can live it God’s way. The choice is yours, however the results may vary.

Luke, in his account of the early church in the book of Acts records this memorable moment. Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” So, he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

The saying, “to kick against the goads” was a common expression found in both Greek and Latin literature. It was a rural word picture, which rose from the practice of farmers goading their oxen in the fields. Though unfamiliar to us, everyone in that day understood its meaning.

Goads were typically made from slender pieces of timber, blunt on one end and pointed on the other. Farmers used the pointed end to urge a stubborn ox into motion. Occasionally, the beast would kick at the goad. The more the ox kicked, the more likely the goad would stab into its leg, causing greater pain.

Chuck Swindoll in his book Great Days with Great Lives writes, “Saul’s conversion could appear to us as having been a sudden encounter with Christ. But based on the Lord’s expression regarding his kicking back, I believe He’d been working on him for years, prodding and goading him. Quite likely, Saul had heard Jesus teach and preach in public places. Similar in age, they would have been contemporaries in a city Saul knew well and Jesus frequently visited. Imagine Saul (the name Paul means “small,” suggesting he may have been shorter than average), standing on tiptoe, straining to watch Jesus, all the while grudgingly wondering how this false prophet could be gaining popularity. Nevertheless, Jesus’s ministry stuck in Saul’s mind. The more it goaded him, the more he resisted God’s prodding. Once you’ve seriously encountered Jesus, as Saul did, there’s no escaping Him. His words and works follow you deep within your conscience.”

If Saul, aka Paul could say a few words at this point, and since birds can’t talk, I think he would give us some great advice here. First, he might share with us don’t mix it up with someone you can’t take out…. Don’t fight God. As William Barclay observes, “An ox who kicks against the goad only invites more goading. The only way for the ox to avoid the irritant is to go forward, to do the master’s bidding.” The Risen Christ told Paul that it was hard for him to kick against the spikes. When a young ox was first yoked, it tried to kick its way out. If it was yoked to a one-handed plough, the ploughman worked with a sharpened end which he held close to the ox’s heels so every time it kicked it was jagged with the spike. In other words, this isn’t gonna end well.

In 1875 a British poet William Ernest Henley published a short poem that expressed one way to cope with life’s circumstances. The poem, “Invictus,” ended with these famous lines: “I am the master of my fate / I am the captain of my soul.” Sixteen years after Henley first published “Invictus,” the British preacher Charles Spurgeon offered another philosophy of life. On June 7, 1891, in the closing words of his final sermon, Spurgeon urged people to submit to a better “Captain” for our soul. Spurgeon said: Every [person] must serve somebody: we have no choice as to that fact. Those who have no master are slaves to themselves. Depend upon it, you will either serve Satan or Christ. Either self or the Savior. You will find sin, self, Satan, and the world to be hard masters; but if you wear the uniform of Christ, you will find him so meek and lowly of heart that you will find rest unto your souls …. If you could see our Captain, you would go down on your knees and beg him to let you enter the ranks of those who follow him. The choice is yours, but never forget based on your decision, results may vary.