Acts 26:2-29

TEXT Kicking against the goads. A city boy from America sometimes has trouble reading the Bible. What's a goad? Why is Paul kicking some of them? One boy asked, "Isn't a goad that round rock that has pretty crystals inside?" Ok. We have an assumption. Next the hypothesis: "He must be trying to break them open by kicking them down the road." Actually, a goad is a sharpened stick. Rural folk poke their oxen with them. That's how a 90 pound boy can get a 1,000 pound ox to go where he wants. Usually a little poke makes the point... (pun intended) and the ox responds. But, a wise ox boy uses a goad long enough to stay clear of flying hooves. Saul is being goaded. Someone wants him to go a different direction. But, Saul thinks he is sure of where he is going. He has a plan to please God. Then a blinding light. Paul forgot to ask God's opinion of his plan. If Jesus is true to his analogy here, he has been after Paul for some time. Maybe the first goad Paul ignored was the innocent eyes of Stephen. Maybe Paul has lost sleep thinking about the stories of Jesus' resurrection. Whatever led to this point, Paul made his decision here. He told Agrippa, "I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven." When does obedience come in our lives?