Kicking Against The Pricks

In Acts 9:5 Jesus told Saul, before he became Paul, on his way to Damascus, that it was hard for him to kick against the pricks. Some Bible translations use the word goads instead of pricks, which is a sharp wooden stick with metal at the tip. It was a tool farmers used to guide their oxen while they were plowing. If any oxen tried to kick against it because of stubbornness, the sharp point of it would only go deeper into their flesh.

Why did Jesus use this metaphor to Paul? What message was He conveying by using this analogy of Paul trying to kick an object sharp enough to hurt him? He wanted Paul to know that he could never win against God. He was fighting a losing battle. He cannot go up against an all powerful God. Paul was convicted and had a surrendered heart immediately. His very next question was, "Lord what do you want me to do?" Many of us should be asking this of the Lord.

Whenever we try to go contrary to the Lord's will for our lives as believers, telling Him what we want to do and when we want to do it, we are fighting against His plans for us. This is a kind of rebellion. We are kicking against the pricks. We are telling Him that we have a better plan and we are rejecting His. When we go against the direction the Lord wants to take us, the results will be painful. 

Jonah tried to hide from the presence of the Lord by fleeing to Tarshish, instead of going to Nineveh  where the Lord sent him. He kicked against the prick by not doing what the Lord told him to do. He eventually had to be thrown overboard off the ship he was on. He ended up in the belly of a great fish which the Lord prepared to swallow him. He spent three nights in the belly of the fish and from there he prayed to God. (Jonah 1:1-17)

We should never harden our hearts to the Lord's voice or find ourselves in such battles with Him. We will never win. We need to surrender our plans and trust in His because He knows what is best. Our heavenly Father has the perfect plan for our lives. He is our all knowing Savior who already demonstrated how much He loves us by what Christ accomplished on the cross, so why would He not care about everything concerning us.

Hebrews 3:7-8

“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness,”