Pastor Carl Friday Message

Life's Pricks

“It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”

–JESUS

At the time of Christ it was a predominantly gregarious age, where men and women had to till the soil. Oxen were used for this laborious and tiresome work. A prick or ox goad was a necessary device used to get the animal to comply with the driver’s will. It was a long wooden shaft with a pointed spike (prick) at the end. The farmer would position the stick in such a way that if the ox became stubborn and refused a command, the prick would be used to jab the ox forward. At times the ox would stubbornly kick out at the prick resulting in the prick causing considerable discomfort. The degree of the kick determined the degree of the pain. The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary says, “It was a proverbial expression for unavailing resistance to superior power.”

Don’t kick against the pricks.

Kicking against life’s pricks will makes matters worse in life, not better. Creatively successful people don’t spend their time kicking against the pricks. In your professional life there will be many pricks. The prick of a prickly supervisor or co-worker who gets under your skin, the prick of a moved deadline causing you to double down to finish the project early. There also can be the prick of being reassigned to a new division causing you to leave behind a highly collaborative team that you enjoyed working with, or the prick of downsizing in a shaky economy. Don’t kick! Go with the flow, make the most of the opportunity; if you can’t change it let it change you. Adjust; be agile, so you can advance. Some events are beyond your ability to alter and resisting the “superior power” of inevitability would be an exercise in futility.

Relationships will have their prickly moments as well. Misunderstandings, transitions, changes, and painful departures are all the pricks that pick at our well-being. I had lunch recently with a former senior leader of a very large organization. He was abruptly let go by the board due to a power grab by the former senior leader. Instead of becoming bitter “kicking against the pricks” he adjusted, was agile and it has resulted in the advancement of his career. I have learned that God can use the pricks in life to our advantage if we keep our heart in the right place, remain humble and keep plowing ahead.

Just a thought,

Carl