Scripture
Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: “I am the the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way you should go. Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” Isaiah 48:17-18
Observation
The theme of Isaiah chapters 40-66 is the promised comfort and peace of God to His people Israel. Yet, we see that peace isn’t received because the trials are perceived as punishment rather than preparation. They would resist God’s instruction leading to the very destruction God was leading them away from. Instead of peace like a river and waves of righteousness like the sea they found themselves as captives in Babylon for their rebellion and sin. Why? They didn’t let God guide them by His goodness through goading. When the Redeemer said He wants to “teach” them how to profit and follow the right path He uses the Hebrew word “lamad”. It’s defined by Strongs: “To instruct, train: prod, goad; teach: to cause someone to learn. The origin of the verb may be traced to the goading of cattle. Similarly, teaching and learning are attained through a great variety of goading, by memorable events, techniques, or lessons.” Later on in this very chapter The Holy One references what He was teaching Israel through the water from the rock in the middle of the desert. Yet, even in the face of this miracle they still chose to doubt and disobey Him. Why? Because, when God goads us it hurts our pride. When it comes down to it, we don’t like to be led, we like to be the one’s leading.
Application
The definition of a goad may lend more light to the discussion as most of us don’t work with cattle and we are very much “the cattle” in this scriptural scenario. According to Wikipedia: “The goad is a traditional farming implement, used to spur or guide livestock, usually oxen, which are pulling a plough or a cart; used also to round up cattle. It is a type of long stick with a pointed end, also known as the cattle prod.” Ok, that doesn’t sound like something a comfortable American Christian is going to embrace in their daily Devos. Yet, it’s in our daily Devos, our slowing down to hear God’s voice through God’s Word, that we find those happily painful moments of conviction where we realize our ways don’t match up with His words. We, like cattle, are caught up in the herd mentality of so many cultural perversions and half-truths we don’t even realize that by choosing to ignore the goad of God, a pain meant for our blessing, we are choosing a pain meant for our destruction. Who would purposefully choose to be captives in a pagan Babylon than rivers of peace and waves of righteousness? Yet, this is where we find ourselves. Instead of letting God goad us toward His good will, we choose the cheap and easy seemingly painless shortcut of making our choices based on our own feelings while refusing to acknowledge we are very much still being led by cravings and selfish impulses of our flesh. Remember Saul, on his hell-bent rampage to serve the purposes of heaven by killing Christians? Remember what Jesus said to Him on the road to Damascus before He changed his name to Paul? “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ (Acts 26:14). How long have you been kicking against God’s very best for you? Like Saul, if you are going through a difficult, painful, frustrating circumstance right now, you are at a crossroads. The goad of God is painfully and purposefully pointing you towards peace and righteousness. Simultaneously, the cravings of the flesh covered in religious self-righteousness are calling you to escape into a self-centered cycle of destruction. Which will you choose? The best possible question to ask of the Lord in the middle of your crossroads crisis is this, “Jesus, what are You trying to teach me through this?” That question will help you to see the goodness in the goading of God.
Prayer
I watched as Elijah and Kehau stopped in the middle of their wedding ceremony to share their personal vows with each other and take communion. You showed me in that moment a beautiful picture of what daily devotions with You looks like. They took a good ten minutes understanding that the rest of us could wait, and this moment with You mattered most. Forgive me for the times I have skipped over my daily devos with you. If I’m honest, it was becauseI was avoiding your goad God. I didn’t want to be be convicted or corrected or re-directed so I went my own way with my day. I’m done kicking against the goad, fighting against your will, no matter how painful it may feel in the moment. “5And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” 7Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…” (Hebrews 12:6)
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