When was the last time you felt the stick of a goad? Or to put in another way, who last goaded you into something?

I visited my gastroenterologist recently. I steeled myself for bad news—when am I due for my next colonoscopy? She referenced her charts and then withdrew the goad. Four more years (with foot-dragging I’ll stretch that to six). Good health often requires some goading.

Shamgar, the third judge of Israel, struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad, thus delivering the nation. An oxgoad is a long stick, either sharpened on one end, or fit with an iron spike and/or hook. It’s used to prod oxen in the direction the driver prefers. Today people use an electric cattle prod for the same purposes.

No one likes feeling the goad, particularly those Philistines. Paul referred to kicking against the goads when describing his conversion experience on the road to Damascus. It’s painful and harmful to kick against a sharpened, barbed spear.

Which doesn’t stop me from bucking the goad. Like a big dumb ox, I often need a little pain to move me in the right direction. I may not like it, but part of me understands, and remains grateful, for the Lord’s goads in my life.

Judges 3 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022