“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you.” Psalm 32:8-9

Goading or Guiding?

When I was growing up, my aunt had a ranch with horses. She taught me to ride; I thought it was great fun until the day I decided to ride a Shetland pony bareback. That short little horse took me and my bare legs right through a rose garden. Bloodied and crying, I decided that would be my last ride for a very long time. The bit and bridle didn’t work for me. If only that horse knew and cared what I was thinking and hoping for, then I wouldn’t have to try to control it! I could just look or point right or left, and he would be happy to trot in a safe direction at my bidding.

When Paul was on his way to Damascus to persecute the believers, Jesus appeared to him on the road. Paul, blinded by the Light of glory, fell to the ground. Jesus said, “Why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads” (Acts 26:14). Goads are prodding sticks that keep oxen moving in the right direction (away from the goads.) 

What were the goads Paul was “kicking against”? Was his conscience being pricked? Had God placed fences or boundaries around Paul’s activities that stopped him from doing even more damage? When Jesus said these words, He was referring to things in Paul’s recent past where God had been trying to get his attention.

We don’t have evidence of what the goads might have been for Paul, but we can surely ask ourselves what the goads are in our own lives. Has God been trying to break through to us so He can say something important? Is our conscience bothering us about something? Are we trying to break out of boundaries or restrictions that the Word places on us? Are we headed the wrong way, and He is getting us back on track?

From today’s text, we can see that God’s first attempt at guiding us is to merely look this way or that, so we can be guided by His eye. See the direction He is taking, and go that way. If we don’t respond to that—if we don’t spend enough time with Him and His Word to understand His heart, His will, His priorities—then He may have to put up the fences. He may have to prick our conscience. He may have to goad us in such a painful way that we move away from the goads, taking us in the intended direction.

Is God able to guide us with His eye, or do we need to be goaded?

“Father, help us to choose Your ways in all things. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”